


A Chance Meeting of Two Moons

by AnonEMouseJr, Evilhumour_Author



Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 56,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23926477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonEMouseJr/pseuds/AnonEMouseJr, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evilhumour_Author/pseuds/Evilhumour_Author
Summary: First in a planned Two Moons-verse, and a part of the greater "Powers-That-Be" multiverse.Princess Luna has gotten into an argument with her older sister and goes to her private realm to vent. Meanwhile, in another realm, Prince Artemis has gotten into a similar situation with his brother. What was asimplemeeting between alicorns of the night quickly becomes anythingbutsimple.





	1. Chapter One

**Disclaimer:** _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_ is the property of Hasbro. I make no legal claims to it whatsoever, only to the original characters created for this story.

 **Author's note 1:** This fic is the brainchild of Evilhumour, and as of 2017 is primarily beta-read and co-written by Anon e Mouse Jr. (with many other contributors during the first thirteen chapters); Anon e Mouse Jr. also maintains its TV Tropes page at Fanfic/AChanceMeetingOfTwoMoons ; links to all archived versions (on SpaceBattles Forum, FIMFiction Dot Net and Archive Of Our Own) may be found there. While the first thirteen chapters were originally posted in 2014, this is the revised-as-of-October 2017 version. We humbly ask that you read, review and enjoy.  


**Author's note 2:** Chapter post dates - 2014-06-18 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter One**

It was a seemingly pleasant evening in Equestria, with the majority of the population starting to doze off for the next day, and the rest getting ready for their nightlife activities. For once, there were no attacks on the capital, no great danger coming from the moon or from a statue in the royal gardens.

For once, everything seemed to be just fi-

A loud shout coming straight from the palace broke the quiet night and caused many to turn their heads and wonder what their princes were arguing about this time.

They were all well accustomed to _this_ sort of thing, and a few even had bets on which of their diarchs had started it this time.

As it happened, it was Solaris who had started this little fight and all things considered, the alicorn of the sun could have started this conversation a _bit_ better.

The pony _had_ seen his younger sibling often locked in their study room, barely spending any time with his little ponies since his return from the Moon those three years ago. The elder of the two had to practically drag the younger one out by the tail, and give them a lot of promises of a pleasant and peaceful night for their festival each and every time.

That made him think of the first Nightterror Night that his sibling had experienced with some regret. The Element of Laughter had _certainly_ not been the best pony for the nervous and self-conscious alicorn, and he had been _meaning_ to talk to both his most faithful student and the party pony about their actions on that night but things kept occurring that made him put it off.

Blaming _Arty_ for getting mad about constantly being painted as Nightterror Knight when he was trying to step out of that horrid parasite's shadow on a night that was meant to be for _him_ was something that had greatly disappointed Solaris, but he was unsure of how exactly to approach the topic at hoof. There was no true malice behind their actions, just not thinking about other ponies' feelings. Not overthinking things was something Dusk Shine had a great deal of trouble with, and any type of reprimand would set all that hard work back to square one if not done _exactly_ right. And Bubble Berry wasn't a mean stallion by any stretch of the word, just overzealous in his celebration of Nightterror Night and thinking that his little brother was aware that being scared was part of the fun of the festival.

He was still regretting not being there for his little brother on that night, but he was pretty sure he would have had his flank kicked from Ponyville to the farther griffon lands if he dared to show up and overshadow his brother on his big da- **night** , which Artemis would _certainly_ have done if he was spotted in Ponyville. That would have caused a fight between the two, and none of his little ponies were ready for an alicorn brothers brawl just yet.

Still, this conversation could have gone better, considering how red the dark blue alicorn was getting from shouting at him.

And he had _tried_ to get this important conversation just right, cringing from the onslaught of the verbal blows.

Maybe he shouldn't have said moping...

* * *

"Dear sister, may we ask a question before we answer your question as to why we art still _moping_ , as thou sayest?" Luna, the princess of the night, was not glaring at her sister which worried Celestia greatly as it meant something bad wa coming.

"Of course, Lulu." She smiled gently, annoyed that she had not done her best to address this situation. Luna was still locking herself in her study, trying to read and understand the modern Equestria, with that Nightmare Night a few years ago being a fiasco that lingered even now. While Twilight Sparkle might be trying to learn the magic of friendship and doing an extremely good job at it, the mare still needed to learn that sometimes you had to get annoyed and berate a friend when they wronged another pony. Trixie Lulamoon stood out as an example of this; another black mark that disappointed her in how she'd taught Twilight. Getting annoyed with a boisterous showmare was one thing, but showing little sympathy to her when said mare had lost all her belongings and home was something truly _else_. Didn't Twilight understand that showponies were _supposed_ to be a bit arrogant?

"From the time that thou banished us," her sister flashed her eyes at her, causing the elder mare to gulp a bit. "Did thou deny we were gone? Did thou become enraged in our absence? Did thou try to bargain for our early return? Did thou become consumed by –"

"Yes, Luna," she moved to hug her sister, understanding what she was asking; the five stages of grief. It had been a semi recent study for Luna, but she had put it to the side after she discovered another topic that had caught her eye. "I did go through them all, and I'm so-"

"We art not finished," she snapped coldly, stopping the mare of the sun in her tracks. "Thou had a thousand years to cope with what happened that night, a thousand years to come to terms of what thou and we did, did you not?" She turn her steel gaze at Celestia, slipping out of old Equestrian to make her point clear, whatever it was.

"Ye-yes Luna," she muttered dumbly, trying to understand what angle Luna was going for. "I –"

"And thou did question me to why we art still saddened by what we did, still torn apart by our deeds as Nightmare Moon, did you not?" She moved towards her sister, anger flowing off her clear as her day. Celestia could only move backwards from this, instincts old overtaking her body.

"Ye-yes-"

"Did it not occur to you that **_I_** would need time to come to terms for what _I_ did‽" she snapped at her, flaring her wings widely in an old pegasi intimidation technique . "Did you expect me to really just slide off what I did as that monster like a shoe‽" She took a step forwards, causing Celestia to tremble. "Did you expect me not to be ashamed of my actions, just to _accept_ that the past is the past‽ Did you expect me to just sit on my plot and do nothing to reclaim my dignity and honour‽ Can you even comprehend how _insulting_ and _demeaning_ it is to hear from _you_ to stay our hoof from our duties, and how much it _burned_ us to accept thou request as we are terrified of allowing _another_ qualm to tear us apart‽" She jabbed a hoof at her sister's form. "'Twas like a _stomp_ to our heart when thou _patted_ us on the head when we told thee of our uncertainties of Nightmare Night and the creature's words to us." Luna _had_ come to her bedroom, and told her all about the night with glee, with her smile only fading when she asked if she was truly in error with getting angry in how Pinkie Pie acted towards her. Celestia had simply brushed it off for the moment, not giving it too much thought until breakfast and there was no easy way of addressing the problem without Luna bringing it up first now. "Art we thy sister and equal, or art we thy _foal_ and _stooge_ to make thee laugh and dump thy insultingly simple work on us that thou art too _lazy_ to bother with‽" The blue alicorn was starting to tear up now, panting a bit.

"Luna, that's not true, I-" Celestia tried to stop this, trying to stop this from going any further.

"Oh, shove it up your plot!" Luna all but shouted at her, her horn glowing. "You have been the _biiiiiig_ mother to all our- _your!_ ponies so long that you cannot see anypony else as a bucking equal!" She was hovering above the princess of the sun now, body heaving as she breathed heavily. "Celestia, ali-"

* * *

"-corn of the sun," Artemis glared down at him, his eyes starting to glow now. " **I HATE YOU!** "

The power of his voice sent the elder of the two backwards, just watching out of the corner of his eye as his brother teleported out of the room.

The guards of the day and the night poked their noses into the room, the mares dropping their stoic features in favour of actual worry and concern. They must have been aware of Arty's growing resentment with him and they were worried about the two having a fight, considering their returned prince's past.

"Prince Solaris, do you need a hoof?" One of his guards went to his side, his trusted Captain of the Solar Guard, helping the alicorn upright.

"I- I-" he stammered, stroking his beard without realizing he had done so. It was a habit he was _trying_ to get rid of with little success. Before he could say anything constructive, the castle started to shake as the loud punk music that Artemis enjoyed was belted out. He had gotten it from a DJ named Col-7 after trying out the Canterlot nightlife one time, with his bodyguards actually letting him go into a club without any previous scouting of the building. Solaris still wasn't sure if he should have punished them or given them a raise after he found out, considering how introverted his brother was.

Artemis normally _tried_ to keep the punk music in his room with sound muffling spells for everypony else, but it was like his brother wasn't even trying now.

…Which was probably the case.

Folding his ears back at the loud noise, as it was certainly _not_ music, the alicorn shook his head. "I'll go to him; tell him to lower-"

"With all due respect your highness," the Solar Guard Captain said, shaking her head with the rest of her ponies as well as the thestrals. "Don't go to him yet. Prince Artemis is very upset with you, and I don't think seeing you right now would be wise for him, or you, at all."

"Steel Barricade," he frowned at her, wishing she would wilt for once like the rest of his little ponies when he talked to her. Then again, she was one of the few mares, Gleaming Shield aside, that was able to actually talk to him like an average pony, and as such, she was a close confidant of sorts. "My brother is acting like an angsty little teenager. It's _hardly_ appropriate-"

"Sire," the mare frowned back at him, causing him to pause mid sentence. "I've got a couple of younger siblings; one brother!" she shouted over the noise stemming from Artemis's room. She placed a hoof on his side, not reaching for his shoulders despite her height as an earth pony. It was enough from a guard of her rank though that it was fine. "What Prince Artemis did _was_ healthy, venting outwards instead of bottling it up!" Her lightened frown was quickly carried along the other mares in the room, with them smiling, causing some sort of male instinct inside of Solaris to activate, urging him to either accede to their whims or flee and never look back. "Right now, the best thing is to let him get it out and let him come to you, and be _understanding_. Don't brush him off, listen to what he says and accept his requests."

"There will be some doozies sire!" One of the thestrals giggled, causing her fellow guards to glare at her. She gulped and became silent, shifting on her hooves.

"As my colleague _so_ eloquently said it!" The Captain of the Solar Guard rolled her eyes, huffing in annoyance at the lack of properness. She made a mental note to speak to the Lunar Captain about this. She then let out a tiny sigh of relief as there was a lull in the loud music coming out of the room of the second diarch of Equestria. "Also, sire, I think it would be in everypony's best interest if you stopped being so protective of him and let him do some of the heavier royal duties and meetings. It will allow you some free time as well as cement Prince Artemis's legitimacy in the courts."

Letting out a tired sigh, the prince of the sun let the wisdom of his ponies seep into his head. "Very well," he groaned, rubbing his head and fixing his crown. "So I should let him have his little ang-" blinking, he stopped himself among the glares from the mares in the room. "I mean, I should let my brother have his personal space right now, vent with that _music_ ," he twitched an ear, slipping out a sound dampener spell around the room as the next track came blaring out. "And in the morning, I'll have a more… _mature_ conversation with my br-," he paused again, catching himself slipping into his old ways. His brother needed to see his older brother treating him as an equal, not as a sibling, a _younger_ sibling. That was one of his points: that Solaris was treating Artemis like a colt instead of a stallion, like Arty was his own foal instead of his brother. It still stung to realize how _hurtful_ it must be to be treated like that, and his mind was still unravelling the deeper meanings to it, making the ball of guilt in his stomach grow. Solaris was sure it was there, Artemis rarely spoke plainly. "With Prince Artemis." He looked around the room, getting nods of approval from the mares around him.

"Understood, Prince Solaris," the guards replied with their captain, nodding their heads and moving to leave the room. The large earth pony paused, turning her head back to the prince. "Is there anything else you need, sire?"

"No, Steel Barricade." Shaking his head, he gave out a yawn to let them think he was tired. "I wish to retire to my chambers." He let out a real yawn, feeling drained from everything so far. "As much as I do admire Prince Artemis's night sky, I need to rest my head."

The guards nodded their heads again, all in agreement with that. While Solaris had done a fairly good job at keeping the night sky routine for the last thousand years, Artemis had gained a silent but quickly growing admiration from the mares of Equestria at how romantic and beautiful it was under his hooves. It would only take one Hearts and Hooves Day for Arty to see how much the mares _truly_ appreciated their new prince.

With a silent _hmm_ and making sure to make mental note to discuss the matter with Bolero, knowing that his nephew could easily help organize things in a genuine manner to get those mares to send those cards, he went to his chambers to get some sleep, casting another silencer spell as he went past his brother's doors so everypony _else_ could sleep as well.

* * *

Princess Luna blinked herself awake in her private dream realm. She was rarely here at this time of the night, usually going out to guide and aid other ponies with _their_ dreams, but she just needed a place to vent her anger properly without causing any lasting damage in the real world.

Besides leaving on that wonderful music that DJ Pon-3 had given her, she corrected herself with a laugh. Celestia _hated_ it, which certainly made it bet-

She stopped her thoughts, ears going straight up. The laughter had echoed…

* * *

Prince Artemis blinked himself awake in his private dream realm. He was rarely here at this time of the night, usually going out to guide and aid other ponies with _their_ dreams, but he just needed a place to vent his anger properly without causing any lasting damage in the real world.

Besides leaving on that wonderful music that DJ Col-7 had given him, he corrected himself with a laugh. Solaris _hated_ it, which certainly made it bet-

He stopped his thoughts, ears going straight up. The laughter had echoed…

* * *

Two beings turned their heads, each noticing the other with growing, wide eyes. Both of them leaped backwards in surprise, and then dove towards the other.

They both grew in size and stature, their dark blue coats becoming ebony black. Their teeth became sharp knives, black crowns and torcs became helmets and armour. Moon sliver shoes became gauntlets, and their eyes changed from teal to cat-like orbs.

The two of them flew to each other, stopping with a small distance between them.

Both bellowed in unison, " ** _WHO ART THOU!!_** "


	2. Chapter Two

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-06-18 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Two**

Both of the terrifying alicorns glared at each other, blinking in surprise at what the other said.

They both shook their heads with a small wobble, both going to their right side first, and moved their right hoof first as they stepped closer to the other alicorn in front of them. " ** _WE ASKED FIRST!_** "

Again, it was shouted in unison, causing both of them to blink in surprise and slightly slump down in their stances. An idea was forming in the mind of the alicorn of the night…

"WE-" they both coughed at the same time at an attempt to correct themselves. "I demand to know how you are in _my_ privaterealmStopdoingthat!!" They glared again, as their words had run in tandem once more.

The idea was starting to gain some weight now, but both of the fearsome figures were getting annoyed with the other.

"This is _our_ realm," they huffed in sync, causing their left eyes to twitch. "Our private dream realm, as _I_ am the alicorn of the night!" They paused at each other, wondering if what they were thinking was true.

Luckily, the owner of this realm had thought that this _might_ happen and had a test just in case.

"SolarisCelestia having drunk sex with ErisDiscord with a tuba…" Each blinked at the other, the fearsome figures fading away as the other passed the test, revealing two confused dark blue alicorns.

Normally, both of them would have redressed themselves in their royal regalia after dropping a disguise, but neither could find it in them, for they had found something they had secretly had hoped for for so very, _very_ long.

In a timid, stuttering voice befitting a young pony, they asked the other, "Wh- who are you?" They had both asked at the same time again, causing both to blush horrendously and look to their right sides.

With a soft _thud_ that was the result of two bodies sitting down at the same time, they both looked at each other, their blushes growing as they chuckled softly. "Y-you go first," they spat out at the same time, nearly turning their purple face at the ground. With a gulp they said, "N-no you," with both of their wings fluttering about, their growing awkwardness with this becoming more evident. "I insist."

This caused the pair to stare at the other, starting to get a bit frustrated. With a gulp of air, they finally broke out of unison. "YouI'll go first." They blinked at each other, their ears darting upright at hearing _something_ different. "What did you say?" they blinked at each other and then groaned at falling back into this old and tiresome routine.

As such, the alicorns of the night decided to take charge of the matter, placing a hoof on the other's mouth and speaking the second unjoined sentence, "I said youI'll go first."

Of course, as _both_ alicorns of the night had decided to do this, all they got was mumbles as the hoof went into the mouth of their opposite.

Then came their first out of tone movement. As one alicorn of the night was trying to figure out how to talk to the pony across of them, the other frowned at the hoof in their mouth and decided to flick the ear of the pony with the offending hoof.

With a meep, the taller of the two, the stallion, flapped his wings in a bit of shock, causing the mare to smirk and let out the most adorable of giggles.

Clearing her throat, she spoke, "I said, I will go first, and we will go in turns to make this _far_ easier. Is this fine with you?"

Rubbing his ear, the stallion nodded his head at the mare. Normally, he would have berated the pony that did that to him, but as the case was as it were, he was only amused by it. "Yes, yes it is." He smiled easily at her, something that he had _tremendous_ trouble doing, feeling at ease with her, more so than any pony he ever met, even Solaris!

"Good," she smiled at him, batting her eyes at the stallion. "Now dark, tall, mysterious stranger, care to tell me your name?" She giggled, not knowing _why_ she was acting this way but not truly caring two bits!

"'Twould be my pleasure," he chuckled back at her, grinning. Normally, he would be flustered in this situation and be suspicious with a mare acting like this with him, but he couldn't care two bits about it! "My name is Prince Artemis, Diarch of Equestria, the Prince of the Moon and the Stars, the Guardian of those who slumber, the Gleaming Sword of Equestria, King of the Night!" He said the last part with a bit of smirk, flaring his wings in foolish manner, something that would have annoyed any high nobleponies.

She simply giggled; playfully and sweet, causing his heart to beat a bit more rapidly. Laying back down in front of her, he continued to smile, nodding his head at her to go.

"My name is Princess Luna, Diarch of Equestria, the Princess of the Moon and the Stars, the Protector of the dreams of my little ponies, the Silver Blade of Equestria, and Queen of the Night," she smiled when he let out a small, amused chuckle. "I assume that your elder sibling is both a fellow stallion and that his name is Solaris?"

"Indeed, and am I correct to say that for you it is a mare named Celestia?"

She nodded her head at him, and suddenly they both had a mischievous grin on their faces.

"With a sun on their fat flanks!" they said together, breaking out in joyous laughter, leaning against each other over their joint joke.

As their laughter died down, their faces became sombre, a sudden weight on their backs.

"Did you get banished to-"

They blinked at each other, a shared look of inner guilt and shame.

They then looked at the floor, gulping for air as they tried to think of something to say to this uncomfortable conversation.

"What was your name?" Luna's eyes darted upwards, meeting his equally heavy, old eyes.

"Nightmare Moon," she whispered out, folding inwards as memories from the past came to the fore.

"Nightterror Knight." He was equally soft spoken, tears starting to flow down his face.

Artemis was a bit surprised when he felt somepony nuzzling him, blinking to see Luna was also crying. He nuzzled back, _relieved_ to have somepony that _fully_ understood what he suffered under that… _thing_.

Crying and nuzzling, letting out silent, powerful messages of guilt, understanding and acceptances between the two tired souls.

After an untold time had passed, they pulled back and smiled softly at each other, the weight of what they did a thousand years ago suddenly a lot easier to bear.

With a chuckle, Luna poked his chest. "Nightterror Knight," she said with a raised eyebrow, smirking playfully. "Was that _truly_ the best you could do?"

"Oh, and Nightmare Moon was _so_ original?" Artemis poked back, smirking as well, rolling his eyes. He let out a small squawk of pain as she smacked his side with her wing. He then used his magic to send a gust of air just behind her tail. She let out an adorable meep, which made him throw his head back and laugh at her reddening face.

It was why he didn't see her move to pounce, with Luna knocking him over and quickly using her hooves, feathers, and magic to tickle his sides, causing to squirm and giggle under her assault. Not one to be undone, he wrapped his hind legs around her, causing her to squeak again as he rolled her over and started to counter tickle her using his _own_ hooves, feathers, and magic on her body. He had his victory over her for a few minutes until she managed to send a stroke of magic down his spine, causing him to spring back and yelp, allowing her to get back on top of him.

This went back and forth for a while, the two alicorns simply playing like foals, and for a brief moment literally as twin casts of dream magic brought forth Watty and Woona. When they looked at each other, they both paused and broke down in laughter, leaning on each other as they could not stop laughing at seeing their opposite as a foal.

Wiping away tears and turning back to their normal selves, Artemis looked at the mare on his side who was looking back at him, their faces very close.

They both blushed, and then chuckled as they realized what the other must be thinking.

Clearing his throat, Artemis wrapped a wing around her, feeling her outreaching wing halt, then recede back to her side. "I'm not sure how, or _why_ we are able to talk like this but…"

"I don't care either," she nuzzled him, glad to be here and under _his_ wing, protecting _her_ like a strong stallion would. "This was the best night I've had in a long time." She sighed contently, leaning into his neck.

"Agreed Luna." He smiled gently, staring fondly at her, glad to be here and have _her_ under _his_ wing, glad to be protecting a pony as wonderful as her.

They smiled at each other, blinking their eyes as their cheeks started to turn red again. With slight hesitation, they started to draw close to each other.

Their eyes closed, their lips getting closer and closer.

"ArtemisLuna!" Blinking and pulling away from each other, they snapped their heads to the side.

"Was that my brothersister?" they asked each other, feeling the dream realm starting to crumble. "Oh no no no no!" they both shouted, standing up, trying to strengthen their shared world in vain.

"ArtyLulu you need to wake up!" The voice of their elder sibling was louder, feeling their bodies being shaken.

Both alicorns of the night snapped their head to their opposite.

"Tomorrow?" they asked each other with a bit of fright in their voice.

"Of course ArtemisLuna!" they promised each other, standing apart from each other. For a moment, they dare to run to each other and share that denied kiss but-

" ** _ARTEMISLUNA!_** "

With that, the two alicorns were plucked out of the dream realm and slowly back into the real world.

Outside of that private dream realm, there was an annoyed grumbling from two certain beings.

"Oh come on Sunbutts!" One of the two near identical creatures threw a bag of popcorn at the wall of the private dream realm. "What a cockblock!" The one with the beard pouted, frowning.

"Even when Cel-Cel isn't _trying_ to be a killjoy, he still _is_ a major killjoy!" The one with no beard and much longer white hair pouted as well, crumbling her bag of popcorn into a ball.

The draconequui sighed, and looked at each other.

"If I know my Fluttershy, I'm going to guess your Butterscotch will be even _more_ happy if we let the two meet again, right Airy?" the male draconequus asked his old friend, happy that this trick worked. It took a lot of chaos magic and two angsty teen alicorns of the night to break through their Door to the Realm In Between so they could see each other again as there was no gateway, proper or broken, present. When their respective favourite pegasus had asked them if they could make their little Watty and Woona have a good night's sleep, they realized what it meant and they were more than happy to do so. After giving them a great big kiss, they simply waited under their alicorns' bed and the rest was simple.

"Yup Discy." She smirked, rubbing elbows with her old friend. Not many of _their_ kind got along, very few in fact, but these versions of themselves were of those few that could pop into the other's dimension and have no end of reality brawl. Just a lot of pranks, drinking, and chocolate milk.

Oh, when Reality was young and the Doors and gateways between were not so stuck shut with Order magic and cheese.

"Tomorrow then eh?" He held his glass of chocolate milk and clinked it with hers, smirking back at her equally wicked grin.

"You got it," she smiled, as they poured their glasses of chocolate milk into the other's mouths and laughed. Just like the good old days. "Say, you got baby pics of Woona and Celly?" She grinned at him, wondering if the old guy still had it.

"Only if you bring pictures of Watty and Cel-Cel." He grinned back at her, both of them laughing their heads and other body parts off, each flying back to their proper owner as they were pulled back into their proper realms as the last remains of the alicorns of the night's dream realm was gone, showing that they were finally awake.


	3. Chapter Three

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-06-19 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Three**

With a blink, Luna opened her heavy eyes to see a white blob above her, with two long white trunks leaning down to her.

"Oh thank goodness you're awake Lulu," Tia leaned down and nuzzled her head. "I was getting worried as you were in your private dream realm for the entire night, and I need to raise the sun soon and the moon hasn't been put away yet and-"

* * *

"Solaris, you have raised and lowered my moon for over a _thousand_ years now," Artemis glared at his panicky big brother, who was practically yanking out his foolish beard. "Why _now_ are you having trouble with moving it?"

His brother blinked at him, confusion plain on his face. Then he shook his head and laughed a bit, almost as nice as Luna's… That train of thought caused his cheeks to blush which made him glad for his dark room to hide this from Solaris.

"Well brother,"

* * *

Celestia smiled _gently_ , leaning down, almost certainly seeing her blush when she had thought of Artemis. "It is not _mine_ to move anymore," She leaned down to nuzzle her little sister. "Nor will I move it ever again unless you cannot for some drastic reason."

"I- uh," Luna stammered, surprised at the strength of her sister's words and promise. "Thank you Tia," she leaned into the nuzzle. She laughed, the good feelings from her encounter with Artemis were still with her. "I suppose I should go lower my moon." She nuzzled her way out of her sister's hug, and flew to her balcony.

Her inner clock told her it was about ten minutes past dawn, with her ponies certainly worried about why the moon hadn't set yet and the sun was still down, but their worries didn't matter to her right now as her sister _understood_ the importance of not raising her moon without her approval.

"So Lu-"

* * *

"-mis," Solaris watched his younger brother fly into the sky, lowering his moon elegantly. Not even on his most sober of days, and he had only _recently_ started drinking again, could he do _half_ a good job as Arty did with the night sky. "May I ask _why_ you were that entranced into your dream realm?" he asked as softly as he could, using as little authority as he could. He was _not_ asking as a ruler, buck him sideways, he was asking as a concerned brother. Not _too_ concerned, though...

His brother landed beside the alicorn of the day, waiting for the taller alicorn to do the same with his celestial body. Throwing himself into the sky, he grabbed the giant ball of fire and put it on its daily track. Looking down, his heart fell as he saw his ponies let out sighs of _relief_ that the day had begun, as if they didn't _trust_ Arty to keep to the day and night schedule! Biting his lip, he landed next to his brother, who was using a wing to block the glare from the morning sun. He had to resist an urge to laugh and pull him into a hug; the younger alicorn was acting so damn _Arty_ -like right now. He was yawning, grumbling about being up so early, blushing like a colt that had had his first tumble with a mare, shuffling on his tired hoo-

* * *

Wait, _what‽_ Celestia snapped her head to her sister, blushing almost as badly as when she had caught Shining Armor and Cadance going at it for the first time. Not exactly that bad, but on a somewhat similar level!

Oh, the time _not_ to be blessed with the ability to understand all types and feelings of love like her niece!

"Luna?" she asked gently, still remembering Ironhide's words last night, about how much she needed to step back from Luna, and she was worried as Tartarus about further hurting her sister.

Luna just _squeaked_ like a mare that was goosed as her response, blushing as she turned around. "Oh T-Tia, well you see last night, I-"

* * *

"Met somepony last night in my private dream realm," Artemis spoke in an embarrassed tone, walking to the royal dining room. Solaris's eyes went wide at this; Artemis's private dream realm was the _most_ secure mental fortresses in the entire universe. Artemis had taught _him_ how to secure his sleeping mind and he was _positive_ that the only thing keeping that squirming blue alicorn next to him out was common courtesy. After all, Solaris didn't go snooping in _his_ room.

_That_ often, to be honest with himself…

"Oh?" Solaris asked gently, a bit amused that Artemis wasn't put- "Artemis, your regalia." He spoke gently, causing his little brother to jump back a bit, darting back into his room to dress properly and out of the socks he was so fond of. As much as he _wanted_ his brother to get used to the lax manners of modern Equestria, he _had_ to let it happen by his brother's hooves, not _his_ trickery.

"Thank you Sol-"

* * *

"-estia," her sister smiled at her, too quick for it be a fake one, as she stepped out dressed in her regalia. It caused Celestia's heart to swell, knowing that she was doing the right thing to fix this matter with her sister. "'Twould be most embarrassing to walk without anything on besides those socks." She laughed, which caused Celestia to laugh as well.

"I suppose it would be." She chuckled, wiping away a tear with a wing. This was good, Luna was already acting as before, more than all the years since she had been saved from Nightmare Moon.

"Although it felt normal with Artemis…" Luna whispered softly, her steps sounding dainty as she walked onwards.

"Wh-who?" She had to keep her head straight, she couldn't freak out-

"The stallion I me-"

* * *

"-et last night- are you alright brother?" The alicorn of the night turned to his brother, who had tripped over on the flat tile floor, face planting into the ground, tail high in the air, flowing around the non-existent breeze.

"Besides my dignity, I'm fine." He almost brushed off his brother's hoof, but thought better of it and let himself be helped up. "I- is this that the pony that was in your dream realm last night?"

"Yes brother," Artemis started to blush again, yawning as he sat down at his seat. "Servant, thine thickest mug of coffee!" He nodded his head towards a waiter, already going to get the strong blend for the prince of the night. It was only to be brought out if the prince of the night was up and about during the day, as it was liable to burn out the throats of anypony besides alicorns and dragons if they drank it. It was also the only thing proven to keep Artemis from falling face first into his breakfast, snoring his tail off as he was not a morning pony. And Artemis was a _clingy_ sleeper…

"Make it two please," Solaris called out to h-

* * *

er servant. Biting her lip, she looked over her sister who was pushing her food around in a distracted manner, one that she saw on her niece when she was growing up here when she was thinking of Shining Armor. "Can you, if you don't mind, tell me about this pony?" She was scared that Luna would clam up, tell her to butt out, that all the hard-

"Well, Artemis is a stallion, you see," Luna blushed, lifting a fork of her salad into her mouth. "A bit taller than me, but _not_ too much."

"I see," Celestia nodded her head, letting her go on while her mind was falling apart. Her sister, her _little_ sister, was in _love_ with somepony and she wasn't sure if she wanted to take Luna to her bedroom to dish about it, find the stallion and make sure he _never_ put a hoof on her, run around screaming in joy, panic, fear, or something, or do _anything_ else right now besides sitting on her plot and eating a simple breakfast and drinking Magma Grade Coffee! "Go on."

* * *

"Well, she has a lovely blue coat, really soft and dexterous wings," Artemis said with a goofy grin on his face, taking a sip of his coffee without flinching somehow. "Strong, but gentle hooves. The most amazing teal eyes, and the most beautiful laugh ever." He let out a deep contented sigh, which made Solaris's heart do a flip of joy. It was taking every fibre of his being _not_ to squeeze his brother, or break out in the Royal Pony Brothers victory dance. With a quick glance, he made sure that the sun was behaving normally and not reflecting his emotions again.

Artemis then let out a dorkish chuckle, with his lips curling upwards as Solaris turned his head back to see his brother had the most blessed look on his face. "And she has the cu-"

* * *

"-cest pair of flanks." Luna said, her cheeks scarlet red.

Celestia let out a bit of amused chuckles; so surprised and _delighted_ to hear her sister talking like that.

Luna's ears flattened backwards, but she merely rolled her eyes at her big sister, showing that she didn't _mind_ the teasing.

"So Luna," she smiled as she bit into her crepe, almost giddy with joy now. "Do you know how this pegasus managed to get into your dream realm?"

"Oh!" Luna coughed, a bit of her coffee falling onto the table. She was looking down again, not in embarrassment, but in guilt. "Um, Tia, we did not say Artemis was a pegasus."

"That does make sense, I suppose," she did her best to calm Luna down, trying to be non hostile. "A unicorn might be able to slip in somehow better than a pega-"

"Tia," Luna coughed, looking really _embarrassed_ and a _tiny_ bit guilty now. "It would be more fair to say that Artemis is both a pegasus _and_ unicorn," she paused for second, blinking. "As well as an earth pony we suppose," Luna turned and caught the confused face of the princess of the sun. "Artemis is an ali-"

* * *

"-corn of the night." Artemis spoke, fidgeting as he took a _deep_ swig of his coffee, coughing as it went down the wrong pipe.

"How is that possible?" Solaris frowned in confusion, trying to comprehend how it would be possible to have _two_ alicorns of the night at the same time in his nation without knowing anything about it.

"Well, it is my belief that that Luna is from another realm where, at the very least, Eris, yours, and my own genders are changed, and _somehow_ Luna and I were able to converse within the same realm last night."

"Are you sure Arty?" Solaris leaned close, worried that his little brother was being taken advantage of somehow by some old, or new, enemy.

"Of course," Artemis glared at the taller alicorn, clearly annoyed that he would doubt him. "We both had plans for this possibility for a close realm encounter and Luna passed that test." He blinked, and chuckled, blushing a tiny bit. "And so did I, I guess."

"What test?" Solaris was a bit hurt that his brother hadn't told him about these _plans_ but he was also curious about this 'test'.

Artemis's face flushed, and put on a mixture of his annoyed face with his smug face. "It was mentioning the time _you_ had drunk sex with Eris with a tuba and a-"

Solaris groaned, holding his hooves up in defeat. "I said I was sorry about that, Arty, I didn't think we'd wake you."

" _Riiiiight_ ," Artemis rolled his eyes, stabbing his egg and letting out an annoyed huff. "I still can't look at a bana-"

* * *

"-neapple without feeling the need to wash myself." Luna gave an overdramatic shudder which caused Celestia to laugh a bit.

"In any case, I am _glad_ that you had some time with somepony like you last night." Celestia smiled, finishing off her breakfast, enjoying this simple bonding moment with her sister. Soon she would have to act like a princess but she would take every moment that she could to be an older sister teasing her younger sister about the colt she liked!

"Thank you Tia," Luna leaned over, hugging her gently. Celestia's heart melted, certain that things were better. Everything was going to be _perfect!_ "We are going to see each other tonight again!"

Then Luna had to say _that_.


	4. Chapter Four

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-06-19 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Four**

"Tonight?" Solaris said in surprise, instantly aware of how horrible that sounded. Oh by his own name, he could have just ruined everything he had worked for so far.

"Yes, _tonight_ ," Artemis pulled back, speaking _sharply_ at him. Buck him, he would rather deal with a pack of dragons rather than deal with his brother angry like this. "Do you _object?_ " he spat out, daring him to disagree.

Normally, he was considered to be the father of Equestria. Calm, collective, understanding, patient, the pony with the number one beard. Ponies trusted him with nearly everything in their life, trusting his judgment and guidance with almost no second opinion. He had a nearly flawless record and he did his best to make his ponies see him as an _average_ pony by sometimes playing the fool.

Being around Artemis, however, brought out more of his impulsive, silly, foolish side than normally. Artemis made him _real_ , something that he had sorely missed in the thousand years alone.

Something which he did not need right now.

"I just think that you should use some caution," Solaris said firmly, worried that his brother was being taken advantage by somepony, like Queen-

* * *

Sombra did, so long ago. She knew that the stallion had tried to implant some notions into her sister's head with dark magic and left its impact for some time. Celestia would _not_ let her be taken advantage of again, but how could she make Luna see that was a possibility. "I mean, why would you now be able to talk this Attonm-"

" _ARTEMIS!_ " Luna snapped out, slamming her coffee mug into the table. If it had been any lesser mug, it would have shattered. Then again, since Luna was the one who drank only Magma Grade Coffee, it had to be _beyond_ the normal strength and as such dented the table instead. "His name is Artemis, you beached whale!"

"Luna!" Celestia reared back, surprised her sister would insult her like that. "I'm just saying-"

"That since _you_ don't know him, I should sit in the bucking corner while you take your damn time, send _your_ precious student that you _care_ far more about to deal with the _problem_ and _then_ , if it crosses your cake filled mind, to _tell_ me!" she shouted, lifting some plates with her magic and throwing them at the moving white mass with some making contact with the pony.

"Your majesty!" Ironhide shouted, the massive earth pony getting between the two and taking several dents to his armour from the plates.

"WHAT‽" Luna yelled, several heavier objects being held in her magic.

"I think what Celestia meant was that she was concerned about any possible dangers, and that she wanted to make sure that this stallion is not out to hurt you."

* * *

"Ye-yes," Solaris shuffled the broken dishes off his body, standing upright. "In fact, I'm wondering if _I_ could accompany you." He shifted a bit on his seat. "I mean, if you wouldn't mind? I'd like to see the mare you have come to adore so quickly."

The dark blue alicorn huffed a bit, staring hard at his older brother."I su-suppose that could be arranged," Artemis looked to the side, clearly embarrassed that he'd reacted like this. "I will need to get some stu-"

"Oh don't worry about that," Solaris laughed a bit, trying to make sure it didn't sound forced. This was something he had been hoping for; a chance like this _had_ to be exploited. "Write me down a list and _I'll_ go get it." If Arty would act like he expected him to...

"But what about thine day court?" he asked with a mixture of timidness and confusion.

_Perfect_.

"Well, you _are_ a prince," Solaris said nonchalantly, "I'm sure you can handle the Day Court."

"Thou art correct!" Artemis puffed out his chest, smirking as he lifted his coffee mug to his mouth, enjoying the brew. It was not mead, but it certainly kept him awake when he had to be up at this time. "Br-brother, I do have one request though." He looked up at him with timidation. "Please, promise me that you will behave yourself tonight," he all but begged, worried that his older brother would do _something_.

"Artemis, I prom-"

* * *

"-ise you that I will do nothing to embarrass you tonight," Celestia did her best to reassure her sister. "If you don't mind, I'll go and inform the steward that you'll be in charge for today while you finish up in here." She rose to her long, beautiful legs and started to walk out of the room.

"Wait, sister, the list!" Luna stood up, summoning a parchment and starting to write out the ingredients needed. She came up short to her sister's side, a fact that still bothered her at times.

"Oh thank you Luna," Celestia smiled, picking up the list in her magic grasp, looking it over. "I almost forgot the most important thing." She gave a small laugh at her own silliness. "I will see you later then sister."

"Indeed sister," Luna watched her walk out of their little corner of privacy, feeling tiny and gangly at the same time. She looked around the empty room, with the broken dishes and cutlery. She brought her mug, which proudly and _correctly_ proclaimed number one princess, to her lips. "I wonder if Artemis likes tall mares…"

* * *

"Indeed brother," Artemis watched him strut out of the dining room, feeling small yet very uncoordinated at the same time. He looked around the empty room, with the broken dishes and cutlery. He brought his mug, which proudly and _correctly_ proclaimed number one prince, to his lips. "I wonder if Luna likes stallions with beards..."


	5. Chapter Five

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-06-20 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Five**

The princess of the night yawned a bit, taking another drink from her coffee cup and trying to shake off the doubts she was feeling.

Artemis had seemed to like her last night as she was, but maybe he _did_ like them a bit taller. After all, she was practically foal size right now, and she doubted Artemis was some sort of deviant.

"Princess Luna?" The voice of a guard pulled her away from her musings, making her squeak in surprise. "Are you alright?"

She blinked to see that she was still in the hallway, with a flank of Solar Guards around her, her mug floating beside her head. "Ye-yes, we- _I_ am fine." She smiled, doing her best not to blush. "We have a court to attend, let us not dally anymore."

The guards nodded their heads as they directed their Princess towards the side door of the throne room. Pausing for a couple of unicorn guards to enter the room and secure it, and allowing one to run back to get her a new cup of coffee, Luna took a deep breath of air to steady herself and her nerves and nodded to the guards indicating it was time that the doors should be opened.

Instantly all of the Solar Guards turned their heads to see the other ruler of Equestria walk into the room and then turned to face their superior officer to see if this was correct. He in turn looked at the steward of the court, frowning at the unknown situation.

The steward simply walked up to the princess who was settling herself into the bigger throne; it would send the wrong message to do an early swap of the thrones for something like _this_. The princess flicked her eyes to the mare, a quill and inkwell on her flanks and a pair of glasses on her nose, with a rolled up paper of appointments and a small watch floating beside her.

"Ah, faithful steward of my sister's court, how does my sister's day fare for you?" Luna smiled gently, shuffling a bit on her rear, her ethereal tail flicking about.

Normally, a pony would have been severely intimidated by the princess of the night; her decision manner was reported to be harish and sharp, a great contrast to the princess of the sun. However, Raven Inkwell was _used_ to the princess of the sun, and was one of the few ponies that would dare to openly glare and _reprimand_ Celestia, and Luna was no different in his eyes.

"Well your highness, thanks to your tardiness, we are ten minutes behind schedule," she said looking over her watch and appointment list. "Normally, since Sir Fancy Pants is first this would not be an issue but Prince Blueblood is second in line so I expect Mister Fancy Pants to switch as per usual to pacify his lord's temper."

Luna nodded her head, screaming mentally at having to deal with _that_ insufferable, annoying, loud, lout of fur! Fancy Pants was the sort of noble that she _liked_ ; calm, friendly, polite, and considerate to nearly all the ponies he met according the reports she had on him. Fleur Dis Lee was _lucky_ to have him.

...Was she beautiful enough to keep Artemis's eyes on her tonight?

"Your highness, is everything okay?" Blinking, she looked up to see the frowning, -no, _concerned_ steward.

"Sorry, I was lost in thought, I hope I didn't set things back too far." She chuckled softly.

"No, but you do seem a bit distracted, is there anything I should know?" Raven said with a bit of a frown, knowing Princess Celestia's tells well enough, and Luna was a _far_ easier book to read.

"No, no," she flashed a smile, trying to reassure the pony. "I am fine." She widened her smile at the unconverted steward. Raven knew better than to argue with a princess and decided to play along to get the court appointments back on track. "Please, start the court."

With a proper nod of her head to the princess, she turned his attention to the door where she could _almost_ hear that stupid brat Blueblood complaining about not seeing his auntie yet. "All stand for the Princess Luna, the Diarch of Equestria, the Princess of the-"

* * *

"Night," Sable Inkstand said in a clear voice, watching all of the guards standing upright and at attention. "May the Day Court officially begin, and the first pony approach the throne." The two guards opened the door, and the 'supposedly' beautiful princess of Equestria walked into the throne room.

Many of his ponies _said_ she was attractive, but in Artemis's eyes she was far from it. She was too close to his brother's coat in colour, her mane just glowed too much for him to see the appeal of it, and her teeth were far more gleaming white than they should be after a normal brushing. She _tried_ to appear perfect so much that it ran the other way for Artemis.

"Oh!" She let out a surprised gasp, giggled _exactly_ like a surprised school filly, something that she had clearly practiced a thousand times. "I didn't expect to see you Uncle Arty!" She smiled, walking closer to him with a rolled up docket.

That was _other_ thing he despised about Princess Bluebelle. Beneath that darling public persona she flaunted around was a vicious, uncaring _bitch_ that was constantly scheming to take everypony down in order to raise herself up. He understood that it _was_ part of the political game, but what really made his skin crawl was that she had the audacity to do it to _him_ with _these_ methods. He wished he had protested faster or firmer when she'd called him _that_ the first time, but Solaris had just laughed it off, saying that she was their niece due to a treaty with the old unicorn king and it was fun to be called that.

"Princess Bluebelle," he frowned at her, trying to make it apparent he did not care for _her_ term of endearment. "Need I remind you that this is the Day Court for an appointment you arranged, not an informal meeting for you to call me that unwanted title?" He raised an eyebrow at her, causing her to step back in surprise.

Point for him.

"My apologies, Arty," - a clap of thunder was faintly heard, making it clear the points were one all, "But Uncle Solaris has always preferred that I call him by that and it is a hard habit to break." She gave him a slight smile; she was about to make a serious blow against him. "You know how difficult it is to break old habits, right Unc," she paused, lifting a hoof to her chest, flashing her eyelashes at him. "I mean, Prince Artemis." She then bowed to him, clearly mocking him with his request to treat this properly.

Three to one in _her_ favour.

"Please present your request in a timely manner, Princess Bluebelle, as I do have other ponies to speak with." He frowned, glad Luna wasn't like her at _all_. _That_ was a mare worth the title of Princess.

"As you wish, Prince Artemis." She floated a package of paperwork over to him, causing the stallion to shudder inwardly. If there was one thing he _didn't_ miss from a thousand years ago it was how _little_ paperwork he had to do then. His wrist muscles _were_ coming back to him with how _much_ he had to write as he chose not to use his magic or mouth to write as he wished both to honour his earth pony magic _and_ because he knew he was liable to stab the paper with his magic out of frustration or have another feather stuck in his mouth. He _hated_ being so weak, his muscles were _still_ gone from him. Before, he could sometimes out-wrestle Solaris but now he had to be wiry to avoid the first toss and he _always_ got pinned and noogied! "I just wanted to have the approval of one of my beloved uncles for this summer house I am planning to have built," she smiled as he started to skim the papers, filled to the brim with useless information that at times seemed to repeat. "I do believe it was Uncle Solaris's wish that I try to understand the common pony and having one built near an _earth_ pony community would be _just_ capital." She took a step forwards, with the guards instantly lowering their spears to stop her from taking a step onto the dais. "Does it meet your approval-"

"Silence." He raised a hoof towards her, not bothering to look up at her angered face from being cut off. "I shall give you my decision once I am finished with reading your request." He had to stop himself from smiling as he turned his head to the guard to bring back his fresh cup of coffee, hearing her squawk that he would _dare_ address a common guard over her with a smile, an exchange of thank yous and welcomes.

Three all.

* * *

She flicked out the papers as she took a sip of her fresh coffee, reading over the paper. She frowned; seeing the many attacks that Blueblood was slipping into this proposal. It was just on the edge of Ponyville by the land code, and she would bet her wings that it was on part of the unzoned land that the Apple family had for their orchards. It was more or less recognized as _their property_ as Celestia had given it to them, but they had yet to file the proper paperwork, meaning that as soon as the ground was broken Blueblood could take them to court and either stall long enough for the court bills to overwhelm the proud family or throw the harshest jury at them; the end result would be the same, one homeless family.

One point.

As a prince, this land would become _his_ and thus he could send requests to Cloudsdale for a more 'attentive' and driven weather pony. Rainbow Dash would more than certainly prove herself the superior, but that would be a black mark on her record if she acted like her normal brash ego-driven self, forever denying herself from becoming a Wonderbolt.

Two points.

As this would be his summer home, he could lodge complaint after complaint to the Equestrian Animal Preserve Society, which would weigh _heavily_ on the timid pegasus, leaving untold damage onto her self confidence.

Three points.

If the most _grand_ of nobility went to live and visit a local community, the ponies would try to become like him in the easiest manner possible; attire. And if the _grand_ prince didn't like or support a certain mare's clothing store, why should _they_?

Four points.

Blueblood was not known for his patience or allowing ponies to invade his personal space; he could slap a restraining order onto a very clingy and affectionate earth pony, which would probably result in one being deported away for continuously breaking the law.

Five points.

The newest princess of Equestria was _still_ wet behind the ears in the political game, Blueblood would take advantage of invading her personal domain, chipping away her power before she knew what had happened and it would be far too late for her to stop him.

Game set and matched.

* * *

"No." Artemis said, sending the package back to his _niece_ , taking a sip of his coffee and starting to wake up fully.

"No?" She blinked in a confused manner, taking the papers in her own magic grasp. She was _visibly_ confused, giving him some extra points. "I don't under-"

"I rendered my decision and I said no." Good, this asinine meeting was over with and now he could talk to Royal Splendor. _She_ was a fine mare, one that had managed to build her own business empire and enter the noble class _without_ insulting everypony she went past. She was lucky to find that Prench model, Flavien de Los. The love seemed genuine to him; taking a peek into their dreams proved that each of them only dreamt of the other and they were even beginning to have shared dreams; a feat only two soulmates truly in tune with one another could hope to do.

"Bu-but Uncle Solaris _said_ I could-"

" ** _BLUEBELLE!_** " Artemis flared his wings in anger. " ** _IT IS ONE THING TO TREAT US LIKE WE ARE A PUP TO THE GAME, BUT IT IS ANOTHER TO LIE TO OUR FACE!_** " Artemis flew down to the scared princess. " ** _WE-_**

* * *

**_-OWE A GREAT DEBT TO THY PONIES THOU SEEK TO RUIN; IT WOULD BE A DISHONOUR BEYOND MEASURE TO ALLOW THY SELFISH AND PITHY PLOTTING TO PASS!_** " Luna took a step forwards, still enraged by this dunderhead. " ** _BEGONE FROM OUR COURT LEST WE INFORM OUR SISTER OF THY LIES IN HER NAME!_** " The colt wisely didn't protest this, running out of the room. She waited for the doors to slam shut before letting out a sigh, fearing that she had handled that _poorly_.

Going to take a sip of coffee, she found that she had knocked over her cup in her outburst. Flying back to her seat, she mentally braced herself for the rest of the day. This was only the first meeting of the day!

Nodding her head to the steward who seemed oddly _happier_ , she went to meet her next appointment.

* * *

"So Luna, how was the Day Court?" Celestia asked with a bit of a smile, glad to be out of the castle for once _and_ meeting this colt that had caught her sister's eye tonight. They were enjoying a nice light dinner, as Celestia _knew_ how eager her sister was and she was going to do her best to make this little get-together happen _faster_ and last _longer_.

"Surprisingly well enough dear sister," Luna said with a bit of chuckle and a yawn. "It seems when word got out about my meeting with Blueblood, the ponies were most accepting of my decisions and wisdom."

"It appears that dunce _is_ good for something after all." Celestia let out a guilty laugh, knowing that if anypony had heard _that_ from her it would create a political nightmare fitting of unleashing a draconequus from a statue.

Luna just laughed at that, snorting a bit of soup out of her nose. She blinked a bit, probably feeling a bit tired from being this awake for this long.

"Luna, go ahead, I will take care of the last minute things." Celestia nuzzled her sister's cheek, catching her smile. "You go prepare everything; it is all set up in your room."

Celestia's smile grew as her sister hugged her tightly around the neck, and darted off to her room to prepare.

It didn't take the solar princess long to attend to all the little details; closing the Night Court was just telling the Lunar Guards to take an easy night. It hurt her to see that still nopony was coming to her sister's court. She made sure that the Lunar Guards were on proper patrols and that there was a band of unicorn guards in case anything happened.

After a quick ten minutes, she found herself in front of her sister's room. With a short breath to steady herself, she raised her hoof to knock on the door.

She heard a meep from inside, and then her sister's voice calling for her to enter. Smiling, she walked into the room to see the cluttered wall with a thousand notes, with ten times the amount on the desk off to the side, a spillover in what Luna called an organized mess. Thankfully, her bathroom was allowed to be touched by the maid as Luna had thrown a fit when the maids had tried to put everything into a neat pile.

Turning her head to the bed that Luna was standing on with a big grin, she saw a magical vial in her sister's magical grip. Luna had shed her royal attire, only wearing... "Are those so-

* * *

cks really that comfy?" Solaris bit back a laugh, watching his brother's cheeks turn red.

"Oh Faust, I didn't realize I put them on," Artemis placed a wing over his face, setting the vial down on his cloud bed as he tried to push off his striped socks. "Please I-"

Solaris silenced his brother with a hoof over his mouth. "It's alright Artemis. I have not mentioned your socks yet nor will I." Solaris had made sure that the maids _knew_ that they were not to talk about it at all. Artemis was still sensitive about his appearance and having ponies find out he was a sock fan would _not_ help his confidence. Lifting the vial up, he looked at his brother who was curling up on the centre of the bed. "So I just drink this?"

"Yes, but come down here first, we need to intertwine our magic." Solaris first sent off his royal trapping, leaving his shoes on the right side of the bed. He then went to lay down next to his brother, causing the bed to dip around him and sending his brother tumbling into him with a yelp. Solaris couldn't help himself; he wrapped a foreleg around Artemis's slender frame, pinned him with a powerful wing and started to noogie the protesting stallion. After a fruitless attempt to stop, Artemis huffed and rolled his eyes, as his brother slowly stopped.

"Are you _quite_ done?" he asked with an annoyed glare.

Solaris paused for a moment to ponder this, and then dug his hoof into the dark blue pony's head for one last twist. "Yes'm." He had the biggest grin on his face.

"Good, now extend a strand of your magic as if you would attempt to read their mind."

Solaris remembered how Artemis had taught him how to do this, and even all these years later it was clear as his day to him. He watched his strand dance out only to be grabbed by the significantly stronger aura of his brother. "Good, now this potion will put you under enough that I can bring you into my dream realm while letting you have enough power to cause some effect in there."

"Is this safe Art-

* * *

na?" Celestia asked with some concern, looking down at her sister. She flexed her left wing, bringing her little sister closer to side, as if to protect her.

"Yes Tia, it is," Luna smiled, and then frowned, "You remember what you promised-

* * *

Cel?"

"Yes Arty," He nuzzled his little brother, drinking down the potion, "What-

* * *

could-

* * *

go-

* * *

wrong?" Celestia smiled as she was put asleep, falling into the dream realm of her sister.

* * *

The Solar Prince blinked himself awake, looking around the dull, unfurnished world. He was surprised, he was sure that Arty would have his private realm much fancier than thi-

Blinking, he saw his little brother and took a step back in surprise. Artemis was dressed in full body armor, a bit taller now if he was right about this and had a beard that reached the floor.

* * *

The Solar Princess blinked herself awake, looking around the dull, unfurnished world. She was surprised, she was sure that Lulu would have her private realm much fancier than thi-

Blinking, she saw her little sister and took a step back in surprise. Luna was dressed in full body armor, taller than her now and very thin legs.

* * *

"Luna?"

"Artemis?"

Both of the Solar alicorns turned their heads to see the pony they'd agreed to meet and _WHOAH!_

* * *

Both of the Lunar alicorns stared at each other for a few seconds before breaking out in laughter. Shaking off the false addition and pointless armor, they raced over to nuzzle each other.

"It's nice to see you again Luna," Artemis said with a wide grin, a bit worried that his voice was cracking now.

"And you too Artemis," Luna smiled, looking up the almost equal in stature pony in front of her. "I see that we both had the same idea with _them_." She gestured her head backwards to the unmoving elder princess.

"Yes, Solaris _insisted_ he come too." Artemis said it with a roll of his eyes, flicking his wing towards his older brother that was still as a statue.

* * *

Solaris eyes were still on the _tall, elegant, beautiful, slim_ mare across of him. He didn't even notice his wings becoming stiff in arousal, licking his lips as he fell into an old instinctive habit.

* * *

Celestia's eyes were still on the _statuesque, grand, rugged, bearded_ stallion across of her. She didn't even notice her wings becoming stiff in arousal, batting her eyes as she fell into an old instinctive habit.

* * *

"Hello _there_ ," the tall stallion stalked over to the mare, flashing his best smile. "I don't think we've been introduced."

The tall mare giggled, not like a little filly but like a elegant and sophisticated lady, and walked over to him in the most seductive waltz she had ever done. "I am fairly sure I would have remembered seeing a magnificent stallion with such a handsome beard before."

They were face to face now, their horns crossing each other. "So what is your name, O fair one?"

"My name, oh glorious one, is Celestia." She smiled, wrapping her wing around him, with the stallion doing the same. "May I know the name of the stallion in front of little old me?"

He let out a hearty laugh, pulling them close, almost snoot to snoot. "My name is Solaris, but you are neither little or old."

"Oh you flatterer," Celestia laughed, closing her eyes as she felt his hooves on her back, bringing her head close to his. "I wonder if your tongue truly tastes like silver."

"Let's find out." He smirked, closing his eyes as well, bringing his lips onto her lips.

" ** _HOW BUCKING DARE YOU!!!_** " The two solar alicorns blinked as they were forced apart by a strong gust of wind from the Royal Canterlot Voice. They turned their heads to the shouting alicorns, who each had tears going down their faces. " ** _YOU_ PROMISED _TO BEHAVE YOURSELVES!!!_** " They pointed an armored hoof at their sibling; rage and betrayal growing by the second. " ** _YOU_ KNEW _HOW IMPORTANT THIS WAS TO_ ME _BUT YOU_ HAD _TO DO THIS! YOU_ HAD _TO UPSTAGE ME, YOU_ HAD _TO EMBARRASS ME, YOU_ HAD _TO RUB IT IN MY FACE THAT I HAVE_ NEVER _BEEN WITH A PONY!!_** " Nightterror Knight and Nightmare Moon flew over to the quaking prince and princess of the sun. " ** _IT'S ALWAYS YOU, YOU, YOU!!!_**" They stood side by side, the fearsome beasts' armor and features faded away, showing two very devastated ponies. Before either of the alicorns of the sun could respond, the alicorns in front of them bellowed in tones that dwarfed the Royal Canterlot Voice.

" ** _I HATE YOU!_** "

The two hurt alicorns flew away from their older siblings, causing the dream realm to crumble away rapidly and whisking away the alicorns.

Meanwhile, on the outside of the realm, Discord floated with a stunned look. The bag of popcorn and glass of chocolate milk fell to the floor, his mouth wide in disbelief. He _knew_ Tia was certainly no stranger to the crazy stuff as an incident with a tuba and a pineapple had _proved_ , but he'd _never_ expected her to be _that_ crazy!

Eris floated over to him with a grin, looking into their little window in nighty pony's dream world. "What did I miss?" Then she turned her head to her friend that was still as a statue, a thought that caused her to shudder. "Discy?"

That was all she was able to ask before being thrown out into her realm along with Discord being tossed into his.

* * *

Artemis snapped his eyes open and shoved the white mass off of him with a powerful right hook. " _GET OFF OF ME, YOU BUCKING BASTAD!_ "

The white mass of fur, wings and hooves landed at the left side of his bed, looking up at him with a stunned face. "Art-Artemis-"

"SHUT IT, YOU FAT BACKSTABBING BASTARD!"

"Artemis."

"I _believed_ you could control your bucking dick for _five_ seco-"

" **ARTEMIS!** "

" **WHAT SO-** " he blinked, the pony with a black right eye coming into focus. "Yo-you're not-"

* * *

"Tia." The lunar princess looked up at the pony with perfect shiner over their left eye.

"N-no, I'm not," Prince Solaris looked at the crowd of guards coming into his brother's room, certainly hearing _her_ shout at him. His mind raced with a thousand ideas, but all he could say was, "Oh bu-

* * *

ck me."


	6. Chapter Six - Artemis

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-06-23 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Six - Artemis**

Celestia stared at the stallion in front of her, who was gasping at her and sitting down on her sister's bed. It was clear that it _was_ Luna's new friend, oh _Faust_ they were almost twins and what the _bucking_ Tartarus was she thinking in making out in front of her sister's _first_ coltfriend with his _brother_ ‽

"Ma'am?" Ironhide asked, walking timidly into the room, making her stop and try to take a more focused approach to this problem. "Wh-who is that and where is Princess Luna?" He frowned, noticing her black eye. "What _happened_ in here?"

"What happened‽" Artemis snapped, pointing a stripe-covered hoof, _Lulu's coltfriend liked socks too oh how cute_ , and glaring at her, anger pouring from his eyes. "What happened is what _always_ happens; my bucking brother _had_ to embarrass me, make me feel like I am _nothing_ by tongue fucking the sister of the _one_ mare I actually liked!" Her guards jumped back at the harsh and crude words, stepping away from the alicorn. "Now get out of my way, I am going to bucking train in the bucking courtyard before I do something _bucking_ stupid like my bucking _brother_!" He stormed out of the room and wearing the cutest socks did not mitigate things at all as he slammed the doors hard enough to send them skidding down the hallway.

Her guards just stared at her and the fuming alicorn stallion leaving the area, jaws hanging low.

"P-please go see that Pri-" Oh _damn_ this felt weird and wrong, " _Prince_ Artemis's needs are meet."

Oh this was _bad_.

* * *

Celestia looked out of her study room, and at the courtyard where her latest failure was training with her guards, having just broken _another_ spear with Captain Ironhide and he was out of those socks that Luna would just _adore_ if she hadn't poked her nose in and messed things up.

_Again_.

She sighed, shaking her head in shame and ears flat against her head. Sure, that stallion _was_ attractive, but how could she have _made out_ with him like that? Her sister had _begged_ her not to do anything stupid, not to humiliate her and _she_ had almost spread her legs for that _stupid_ stallion…

What had she been _thinking_? Was she _that_ desperate for somepony that she _had_ to ruin her sister's time with her special friend?

Artemis.

She had been watching him since he had stormed out there, daintily placing his socks off to the side, and he had not stopped throwing himself into any type of practice available, with her guards struggling to keep up with him. She _knew_ that type of ferocity was not one for training but just blind rage and a futile attempt to clear his mind.

She sighed again, unable to stop staring at the pony. She had yet to see how the guards would react to the news, but she couldn't bring herself to leave the room.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," her ear twitched at the sound of that voice coming from the direction of her desk, clear as day. Turning her head to it, she saw the draconequus sitting at her desk with a frown on his face. "Really Sunbutt?" His voice was empty of his usual annoying tone; instead, it was as if he was talking to her like a _parent_. A _disappointed_ parent. "Making out with the _other_ Sunbutt?" He _walked_ over to her, which spoke _volumes_ of how displeased he was. "I mean, I _know_ I have done _horrible_ things, but this?" He shook his head in disbelief. "It's _low_ , even for a draconequus to do."

"Shu-shut up Discord!" she barked out, tears falling from her face. "Don't you think I _know_ how bad-"

"No I _don't_ think you know how _bad_ you did," he frowned at her, causing her to step back in… not fear, but _shame_. "I've known you and Little Lulu for a _long_ time, and I've got to admit, I _kinda_ like the two of you." He pinched his fingers close together, showing how much he cared. "Now because of Flutters, I can kinda see myself as your big brother or something like that," he waved his paw as he turned her around so they could both stare out the window. Everything inside of Celestia started to crumble; wave after wave of guilt destroying everything she had built up inside her as she was forced to watch the alicorn out there jam a spear into a tree. "I think it's a _bit_ odd for them to get along _that_ well but I-" He blinked to see Celestia had disappeared on _him_.

"Huh," he mused stroking his beard, "I guess she _is_ a bit draconequusish after all."

* * *

It was mid-afternoon in Ponyville when the letters started to come. The six heroines were having a nice, lovely picnic in the middle of the fields of the Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow Dash was sitting on her back, reading the latest Daring Do adventure, Rarity was enjoying the breeze while idly sketching away in her books, Pinkie Pie was eating another pastry from the hammerspace that was her mane, Applejack had been convinced to enjoy this time off and was laying on her back with a smile on her face, and Fluttershy was resting against a tree, with Twilight and Spike sitting on the blanket with a content smile.

For once, _everything_ was fine. There was no looming doom over the horizon, no grave matter coming out of misunderstanding another pony's action or words, no ancient enemy to worry about.

Everything was _ju_ -

A burp broke the picturesque scene, everypony's head turning to the young dragon. Twilight Sparkle sighed, wondering what Princess problem she had to worry about now. She unrolled the scroll, blinking as she noticed some weird liquid on it and read the note with a frown.

She then broke out in the biggest, most terrifyingly happy grin that _any_ of her friends had _ever_ seen.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" Twilight closed her eyes as she performed the Royal Canterlot Victory dance flawlessly, bouncing in a perfect circle.

"Whoa sugarcube, what's goin' on?" Applejack rolled onto her hooves, _deeply_ worried now. Nearly nothing good came from one of those letters, and her friend shouldn't be _that_ happy for s-

"I can _finally_ get Smarty Pants back!" Twilight often forgot that becoming an alicorn meant she got not only a boost in pegasus magic and attributes but earth pony too. Which meant she now gave bone crushing hugs. "I've got a royal order that I send my doll to the Princess because she wants something to cuddl… huh?" Twilight blinked, looking over the tear stained letter, seeing it was asking her, _informally_ , for her doll as needed as something to hold onto.

Burp.

She turned her head to see another letter pop into existence, this one also covered in tears and what seemed to be ice cream, asking if she could do it quickly, she would appreciate it.

Burp.

This letter apologized for her failure to use please and thank you's.

Burp

This one said that she shouldn't worry about that, she knew that Twilight wouldn't have minded and she was sorry.

Burp

This one said that she shouldn't have thought to know what Twilight was thinking, and she was sorry.

Burp

This one was barely readable, but it didn't matter anymore. The Princess was already focusing her magic, ready to teleport her concerned friends and herself to Canterlot. They had a Princess and a friend in trouble!

* * *

"Celestia." A voice brought the sobbing princess's head up from her pillow and towards the door. She tried to get to her hooves, knocking aside the containers of ice cream she had been eating since her encounter with Discord, but she couldn't find the strength. She looked down at her bed in shame; how could she face anypony after what _she_ had done.

"Celestia," the pony spoke again, forcing her to meet his eyes. They were… _calm?_ "I've seen Solaris so drunk that we lost several days until I could finally sober him up." He smiled softly, lifting a wet rag with his magic aura, dabbing her ice cream and tearstained face. "I've had to clean his drunken plot enough times to wonder if _I_ am truly the younger one or not." He bit his lip with his tongue sticking out to the side, moving onto the bed so he could reach more of her face. "Turn your head so I can get your other cheek."

She did so, letting him clean her, blinking in confusion. "Wh- why are you doing this? I thought you hated me, why don't you hate me?"

He stopped, the rag falling to the bed. His face scrunched up in pain before he answered. "Celestia, I know better than _anypony_ what can happen if you hold onto your anger and rage." His shoulders slumped, head bent downwards. "After all, it was due to my absolute hatred and anger at the complete lack of respect from everypony that caused me to become Nightterror Knight, and _force_ them to properly respect my work and my night." He let out some soft sobs, ones that sounded so like- Celestia didn't need to think of it; she just wrapped her wings around him. "I _never_ want to go down that road again, but time and time again, Solaris reminds me that I'm _not_ strong anymore, that I am not _powerful_ anymore, that I am barely _needed_." He sobbed into her chest, letting out some of his grief. "I know that he doesn't mean it, just trying to recapture our youthful days so I can be happy, but I _can't_ tell him, I _can't_ do that to him, break his heart again."

Celestia just rubbed his back, humming an old lullaby that she remembered her mother singing to her and Luna as he continued.

"I _finally_ found somepony that _knew_ what it was like, to fall so far that it seemed impossible to ever climb back, somepony- _some mare_ that _didn't_ make me tremble when I was out of my armor and he _had_ to do that to me!" He was crying heavily into her chest now, a bit of the picture becoming clearer. How much did this pony put on his shoulders, oh _Faust_ how much did _Luna_ put on her shoulders? She let out a sob, beginning to see the same things that this Solaris did in _her_ own actions to Luna.

"It's okay, you can hate me," she nuzzled his head, her own grief and shame for how _badly_ she'd treated Luna. The only reason Luna had thrown herself into the studies was to make _her_ happy; to be part of _her_ new world. How could she be so blind, so _stupid!_ She was a _fool_ to think that a few words and some time to bond could heal all those wounds. "I deserve it; it was clear, _should_ have been clear how _much_ it meant to the two of you to find each other, and how much it took for you to bring us there, after seeing each other only once." She nuzzled him, her own tears flowing again. "And… we _betrayed_ your trust, oh _Faust_..." She sobbed, burying her face into her wing, still holding him tight with her wings.

"Celestia, I'm _still_ angry at you and I am still _very_ hurt by what you and my _brother_ did," he spat out the word brother, showing that she had opened an old wound between the two brothers. "But I _can't_ hate you." He pushed away from her, to stare into her eyes. "Not after you doing so much to lighten that _weight_." He smiled at her, what a _beautiful_ smile it was and she was so _happy_ that Luna would be the mare to get it, and he nuzzled her cheek, a bit of a laugh coming from his mouth. It made her smile, took away some of the sadne- Oh, he had once had the Element of Laughter too, just like Luna. "Thank you."

She just wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a tight, _proper_ hug, which he instantly reciprocated.

Her smile grew, seeing how much _happier_ he was. For once, _everything_ was just fi-

"Princess is everythi- who is _that!?_ " Her faithful former student Twilight Sparkle stood in her doorway, with the rest of the Elements behind her, staring at the stallion in her arms on her bed that had empty ice cream tubs around it, with her still sporting that black eye he had given her.

_BUCK MY LIFE!_


	7. Chapter Six - Luna

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-06-23 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Six - Luna**

Solaris looked down at the mare who was blinking up at him who was no longer yelling at him, just panting a bit as she tried to think things through. He recognized the face from Arty's dream realm and dear _Faust_ , they looked so much alike and what the _bucking_ Tartarus was he _thinking_ in making out with her sister like that!

"Sire?" Steel Barricade said, taking a step into the room, forcing him to turn his head around to stare at her. "What, what is going on here‽"

"I di-" He turned to his- what did he even _call_ Luna? His sister from another universe? Oh _Faust_ , that didn't help things, knowing how much Arty _liked_ her! "Luna, are you okay?"

"Okay‽" she snapped, placing a hoof on his chest, " _OKAY‽_ " She stood up on her hooves which he numbly noticed had swirling pattern socks over them, and she was starting to pick things up in her magical aura. "After what _you_ and my _sister_ did‽" She started to throw several objects at him now; Arty's crown and helmet hit the floor in front of his skidding hooves, his torc hitting him square in the chest. Solaris was no greenhoof when it came to a mare's scorn in the morning, and he was already running out of the room when she started to yell at him to get out. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Steel Barricade wrap her arms around the lunar prince _ss?_ as Arty's nightstand went sailing over his head, crashing into the floor.

Oh _buck_ him, this was bad.

* * *

Solaris sat in his study room, the massive amount of paperwork still on the floor after shoving it off in a fit of pithy rage. His mind continued to go over what he did in Arty's dream realm, trying to comprehend what he did.

He'd… _kissed_ that mare. Celestial? Celecerine? He couldn't remember; he just saw how _hurt_ his brother looked, how _betrayed_ he looked, oh Faust _why_.

He had _promised_ Mother and Father, he promised himself, oh Faust he promised _Arty_ that he would never do anything to hurt his brother.

Yet time and time again, he did _something_ to hurt his brother; opening his mouth to the ponies cheering their victory over Eris, and Arty's feelings were stomped into the ground due to him taking in the praises too much; doing something nice for his little brother's birthday, and his self-esteem, self-respect, and pride he had were gone _and_ he'd gained a humiliating fear; try to give him some space after that fuckup, and Arty believed that no one cared about him and his night and tried to bring Eternal Night as Nighterror Knight; _promising_ to behave himself when meeting the _first_ mare Arty had ever shown some interest in since the fuckup, and he broke his word less than minute in and bucking _humiliated_ his brother in the one place that Artemis had complete control over.

And these were only the _worst_ moments he had majorly messed up; knowing there must have been thousands of other times he did something stupid that hurt his brother.

That's all he ever did, hurt hurt hurt. _He_ should have been banished to the moon, not Arty.

He did not know how long he sat crying at his desk, but it was suddenly cut off when the chair was yanked away, slamming his head into the wood, his crown and helmet rolling to the side. He turned his head to see a furious draconequus glaring at him.

"YOU BUCKING PIG!" Eris yelled at him, slapping him across the face. "I KNOW YOU ARE STUPID, BUT I DIDN'T EXPECT _THIS_ AMOUNT OF STUPIDITY!" She grabbed a thick tome and started to hit him across the head with it, causing the stallion to yelp out in pain, trying to scoot away from her. "I MAY BE THE EMBODIMENT OF CHAOS BUT EVEN _I_ WOULDN'T DO _THAT!_ " She continued to scream at him, kicking his stomach a few times and then grabbed him by his mane. "DO YOU EVEN HAVE _ANY_ IDEA OF HOW HURTFUL THAT WAS‽"

" ** _YES!_** " he bellowed back in the Royal Canterlot Voice, glaring at her, tears still going down his face. "I bucked it up, just like I do _everything_ when I try to help my brother! Every time I try to help him, I end up hurting him in some new way!" Her grip on his ethereal mane loosened up, her eyes opening wide in surprise. "I- he's the only family I have left and nothing I ever do… Oh Faust," he sobbed, leaning into his old foe turned friend's chest, letting out his shame at his countless failures for the one pony he loved above all. He felt her rub his back, but he continued to cry, feeling so ashamed of everything he had done in the last thousand years, all those years he could have been firmer, make sure Arty's return would have been seen as something good, that blasted festival should have been banned the first year instead of turning the celebration of Nightterror Knight's fall into a bucking child's festival! How could he have been that selfish, that weak for his brother! "Why, why do I only _hurt_ him?"

She just held him, rubbing his back out of some reflex. Eris had come in here to beat up Sunbutt for hurting little Lulu, but now she was stuck in this awkward situation. Oh, what would her Butterscotch do?… _Besides_ this emotion thing.

After a few minutes of just sitting there, Solaris pulled away from the draconequus. "E-Eris, I'm going to do the right thing for once," he took a breath to steady himself. "I'm going to send for the _only_ ponies that have _ever_ helped my brother and then…" He trailed off, clearly afraid to lose this train of thought.

"Y- you go do that Sunbutt," Eris blinked, floating away from the stallion as he started to write out a letter, the feather shaking in his magical aura. "I'm going to see if Lulu and the gals found any more ice cream."

* * *

Dusk Shine yawned contently, glad to be at Sugarcube Corner and out of his new treehouse although he still missed the old Golden Oaks library.

Not to say he didn't enjoy his new crystal treehouse-palace of Friendship, but it was a _palace_ , not a library. He was a scholar through and through, and he was still doing his best to regain the lost books so all his friends in Ponyville could enjoy reading again.

Take one of his best friends Rainbow Blitz for example; nose buried deep inside the latest Dashing Dare novel, so much that he didn't notice Elusive was making great progress on fixing his mane, getting all the colours to flow the right way.

Turning his attention away from the inevitable fight that was sure to come, he looked across the table to see that Bubble Berry was eating another cupcake; how that stallion had not keeled over from any illness was beyond him, just like Berry Sense.

Fighting back the eye twitch that came after he had tried to learn Berry Sense, he saw Applejack enjoying a simple slice of pie, talking with Butterscotch about the local timberwolves, seeing if anything could be done about them.

"Heya guys, mind making some room?" Six heads turned to see Barbara, or Barbs as she liked to be called, had come back from the washroom, a bit crestfallen to see her seat next to Elusive was taken by the bouncing pink earth pony that was Bubble Berry.

"Sure thing squirt," Applejack smiled, tipping his stetson hat as he pushed inwards next to the other earth pony on the booth. "Saved ya a slice from this greedy creature." He jabbed a hoof into Bubble Berry's side, causing the party pony to gasp playfully.

"You eat one too many slices and you never let it go, do you?" he huffed, rolling his eyes.

"It was an _entire_ cake BB." Rainbow Blitz shuddered from his book, still bit traumatized by how his old friend ate the entire cake in one bite. "A double layer cake." He put his book down, with the page open to keep his spot and damaging the _spine!_

No! It would be _bad_ to fix it, Dusk told himself.

"You know our Bubble Berry, if he gets hungry enough, then nothing under Solaris's sun can stop him." Elusive's laughter was carried out by everypony, causing a bit of a yelp of pain from the two ponies with naturally born wings as Dusk's new wings were far stronger than a normal pegasi's, and he still hadn't learned how to not flair his wings when laughing.

"Oi egghead, are you _ever_ going to let me teach you how to use these wings of yours?" Rainbow Blitz spat out a feather, trying to push the wing back to the side.

"Blitz, I've been _busy_ getting all the darn paperwork to get books back to Ponyville done, including that Dashing Dare novel you are bending the spine out of place on right now, plus I have to deal with a ton of other work now that I am a Prince." He sighed, trying to enjoy this outing his friends had forced him on. "Besides, Prince," he pushed a hoof into the table to correct himself, causing a dent as he had yet to learn to control his newfound earth pony strength either. "I mean, _Solaris_ is always sending me some new work, trying to get me used to my new title." He paused for a moment, biting into a cupcake with some thought on his head. "Or some new threat has happened and he wants us to head to Canterlot right away."

The daredevil pony just sighed and rolled his eyes. "Oh come _on_ , when was the last-"

Burp

All of their eyes turned to a new message sitting on the table, and then to Dusk as he picked it up and started to read it. Applejack thought he could catch some of the words, as his friend did mouth the words as he read, but the frown and then smirk told him everything he needed to know.

"Well guess where _we're_ going?" Dusk Shine said with a grin, with the ponies leaving the booth to make haste for Dusk to teleport them. Blitz sighed, facehoofing for tempting fate, and then blinked as he looked into the polished table.

"Elusive, you brushed my mane again!"

"RAINBOWBLITZNOSONICRAINBOOMSINSIDEBUILDINGS!" Dusk shouted, terrified as he grabbed his angry friend's tail with his magic. "Do you remember what happened last time?"

The prismatic pony blinked, and blushed. "Oh yeah," rubbing his neck as he shook his head to re-ruffle his mane. "Sorry about that barn AJ."

* * *

Solaris watched the letter fly off into the sky with a sigh. Calling in his former student Dusk Shine and his friends _was_ the right call. Even though he _had_ ruined Dusk when he was practically raising him as his own son, the stallion had proven to do _something_ right for Arty, freeing him from that monster Nightterror Knight, _and_ doing so much to save his country and his fat plot time and time again.

He sighed, trying to recall more of his failures when his latest came into his study room. She looked stunning; his guards and Eris had apparently given her a makeover after raiding all the ice cream within two city blocks from the castle. Her ethereal mane and tail were combed perfectly and blowing exquisitely; her coat was rubbed and polished until it seemed to sparkle with its _own_ stars, and her eyes were focused on him.

"Solaris."

"Luna," he muttered numbly, his shame rebounded as he saw this beautiful mare, wondering how he could have _ever_ hurt her? He was resigned to the fact he would always hurt his brother: no matter what he did, Arty was _always_ hurt so it was about time he accepted his fate.

"I understand that Eris talked to you, and while I am greatly bothered to say that _any_ action of a draconequus is right, I am glad to hear what she told me is correct." Luna took a step forward, forcing him to stare at her, seeing Arty in her face, although it was bit _off_. "You believe that you are a creature that can only hurt your brother." She stopped until she was practically nose to nose to him. "You may be many things, Solaris, but from what I have observed, while you _are_ a pony that deeply cares for his brother with four left hooves when trying to help, you are certainly no monster."

She placed a hoof on his mouth when he tried to protest, unlike Arty who would just bowl him over by continuing to talk as if _he_ hadn't said anything. It was unnerving how _easy_ that worked for Arty as Solaris always found himself tongue tied when he tried it. "I have known heartless creatures and monsters, and they lack what you have. Love. No monster without a heart would be in _this_ much despair if they did not truly love the pony that they had hurt." She sighed, looking sad herself again. "I suppose it would have been nice to be loved once…"

Solaris stopped her with a hoof over her mouth. "Luna, I am willing to bet anything you once had the Element of Honesty, correct?" She gave him a weak nod. "Then why did you just lie?" He didn't let her answer, on a roll now. "Luna, you do not _know_ how much it meant to see Arty out of his armor _and_ that close to a mare." He looked to the floor, wondering how much he should tell. "Long ago, I hurt him _badly_. To the point that I thought it would take _another_ millennia or so for him to be comfortable enough to be without his regalia when there was another mare in the room." He leaned down to nuzzle her, his shame of what had happened that night still fresh in his soul. As long as he lived, he would _never_ forgive himself for doing that to Arty.

"He cares _deeply_ for you if he could do _that_ just seeing you _once_ , and that means love in my eyes." He chuckled a bit, ruffling her mane out of some instinctual sibling reflex. She huffed, rolling her eyes at his actions, trying to swat away his hooves. "And you got _every_ pony to take care of you; I've not seen that much devotion since the Royal Wedding when they swarmed Gleaming Shield to make sure she was _just_ perfect." He laughed, pulling her into a hug with a wing. She giggled at this, seeming to be in better spirits already. "Tartarus, you got _Eris_ to go to your side without _any_ arm twisting from Butterscotch." He smiled, lifting her head up. She was smiling warmly back at him, clearly holding back some laughter and trying to be still annoyed at him. "Need I say more?"

"Solaris, if I said yes, you would never cease if my assessment of you is correct," Luna rolled her eyes, taking a step back from him. "You are an incorrigible goof with a heart of gold with a tendency to act before thinking and certainly no monster." She tapped her chin, as if in thought. "Well, _maybe_ a monster that devours the helpless cakes and sweets." She tapped her hoof on his chest.

He laughed at that, pulling her into another hug with his arm. She squawked, and then giggled as she tried to escape his hold.

He was confident now; he could fix his relationship with Arty, make things right. For _everything_ he did to his little brother and he knew that meant making sure his marefriend was happy. And she was.

For once everything was just fi-

"Solaris, I'm here like you as-Who is _that‽_ " He blinked, looking to see Dusk Shine and the rest of his friends pour into his study room, with low hanging jaws, seeing him hold the lunar princess close to him.

_BUCK!_


	8. Chapter Seven - Artemis

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-06-27 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Seven - Artemis**

There was a dreadful silence as the heroines stared at the two ponies on the bed. The six of them looked at the empty ice cream tubs, then the stallion who had wings, horn, a moon on both his flanks and an ethereal mane, then the princess who had a black eye. The six ponies waited for their princess to explain this situation to them in her usual elegant manner.

"Umm…" Celestia drawled out, trying to figure out _what_ to say to her little ponies.

"My goodness!" Rarity gasped, seeing the black eye and stained coat. It was like some fool had tried to dab it out, but just made a mess of things. "What happened to you? Who gave you that black eye?"

"Uh, _I_ did but I can explain," the stallion said hesitantly, stepping away from the princess. "You see-"

"I don't think so bub!" Rainbow Dash shouted, flying to tackle the jerk that would dare to hurt the princess!

It was in vain as he pushed her away with a quickly raised shield, sending her into a wardrobe hard enough for it to topple over forwards, trapping her inside.

He turned his head back to the other ponies, trying to defuse the situation. "I can explain-"

"No dice sugarcube!" Applejack said, causing the stallion to focus on her.

Which turned out to be a diversion, as Rarity used the blankets from the bed to pin his wings to his side, sending everything off the bed to the floor with a large thud. Applejack took this opportunity to lasso his legs together, only for him to bite the rope with his mouth. He then tugged it, throwing Applejack into Rarity, causing the remaining pegasus to meep and dash away as they came close to crashing into her.

"Please, let me expl-" He meeped as he got blasted backwards with some kind of pap- it was confetti and party favours which meant _oh buck me there's another Bubble Berry!!!_ He whimpered at the thought of another pony like that one.

With two groans of pain, he blinked upwards to see the dazed look of Celestia before she turned her attention to the ponies in her room, with the wardrobe bouncing around as a certain mare tried to escape it.

"Get away from the princess!" Twilight shouted, grabbing him with her powerful magic and cutting off his magic before he could use it against her. "Guards, guards!" She began to carry the strange pony out of the room and away from the princess.

" **ENOUGH!** " Celestia shouted, causing everypony to freeze, and even the wardrobe that was halfway up to the ceiling came crashing back down with loud curses coming from within. "Twilight, release Prince Artemis immediately!" she snapped, feeling truly _angry_ at herself. She did not know _why_ Lulu's coltfriend was here but buck it, she was going to make sure he was okay _for_ her! She could do _that_ much after that mess-up this morning!

"Your highness?" Captain Ironhide walked into the room, and she realized how _bad_ it seemed. "What did you do _now_?" He frowned at her, clearly disappointed with her. _All_ of her ponies that she had passed had given her a _look_ and shook their heads in disbelief. Oh, the _downside_ of being seen as everypony's mother figure. You do one bad thing, one _really_ bad thing, and all their fear and respect of her went out of the window.

Well, she _wanted_ to be treated like an average pony and kissing her sister's coltfriend's brother was _pretty_ bad in her female heavy country's eyes.

"Nothing Captain Ironhide, just that Princess Twilight and her friends decided to pay me an unexpected visit, and managed to get through your guards without any notification." She frowned back, not in the mood for him treating her like this. "Prince Artemis decided to pay me a visit as well to try and settle things between himself and I, and the ladies mistook the situation as something else." She watched her captain straighten his back, remembering his position. "Now, if you can make sure there are no _other_ unannounced ponies in the castle, I will explain this situation to them."

"Yes your highness!" He snapped to attention and marched out of the room, with the guards outside going back to their positions.

"Good, now Twilight," She was back into her usual tone of speaking, taking a breath of air to steady herself. She resisted the urge to rub her head, feeling a headache coming on. She looked at the stallion who was still rolled up in her blankets, spitting out some party favours that came from Pinkie Pie's party cannon which she refused to acknowledge for her own mental health. "Please-"

"HAHA! FREE-" Rainbow shouted, flying out of the back of her wardrobe with several of the fancier dresses hanging around her body, hitting the ceiling of her room. She then ricocheted towards the princess of the sun, who let out a yelp of shock and created another shield, sending her into the closet with a loud crash, indicating she had knocked everything down. "DAMN!"

Princess Celestia could not help facehooving with everypony in the room. "I will help Artemis, you help Rainbow Dash come out of the closet."

It took her a second to realize what she had said before she blushed with the rest of the Elements of Harmony, who were trying to decide whether to laugh or gasp at her with the stallion trying to edge away from the hooves of the approaching pegasus who was clearly trying to help him out of his trapped state.

With an eye twitching, she excused herself and flew to the one place where she could scream without shattering every glass object on the planet.

After all, nopony could hear you scream in space.

* * *

After flying back down to her room, she was presented with a semi-respectable scene. Rainbow Dash was sitting the corner of her room, pouting as Twilight pulled broken wood chips out of her wings and back. Fluttershy and Applejack were fixing her room up which was nice as she _didn't_ want her servants to find out as they would take it that she had tried to sleep with Artemis and been caught in the act. Pinkie Pie was eating her secret stash of cakes which was not fair! But where were Rarity and Artemis?

"Hello my little ponies," she gave a weak smile, wondering if Artemis had told them- yes he had, judging by the glares she was getting from _all_ of them. Even Fluttershy was glar- _GAH, do not look at the eyes Tia_. She sighed, sitting on her bed. "Please, before you get it out of your systems, can you tell me where Rarity and Artemis are?"

There was a dreadful pause that caused her to gulp and think to herself _So this was what it felt like to be an average pony._ before Twilight spoke, pulling a thick splinter from Rainbow Dash's flank, causing the pegasus to yelp. "Artemis asked her if she could get him something to wear." She paused in thought, leaning on a splinter. "He _really_ seemed to be uncomfortable about it…"

"Yeah, the guy seemed to be on a verge of an egghead-like panic at-GAH!" Rainbow Dash yelped, either from the wing smack or the splinter pulled out of her. "That hurts!"

"Sorry!"

"A-hem, now that that is dealt with, please get it out of your system." She braced herself, but it was needed. "We cannot move on until we-"

"How _could_ you!" Celestia scooted backwards, seeing Fluttershy leap onto her bed, with everypony staring at her. "That was so _mean_ to Princess Luna! How could you-"

"Please my little pony, let me say that I _know_ I did a terrible wrong to my sister and her new friend," she sighed, looking down at her bed. "And I do plan to do everything in my power to fix this and set things right between my sister and Prince Artemis."

"That's good ma'am," Applejack nodded her head, still frowning at her. "Ah mean, your highness!"

There was a bit of laughter coming from outside her door and she watched Prince Artemis walk in with Rarity by his side and Spike sitting on his back. "So I would guess that your Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Blitz is it?" the stallion nodded with a grin, with Spike leaning close to hear the story. "Is none too good when judging to use her, I mean _his_ , speed either?"

"As I told you, the day after of the Gala last year, I found him in my studies with a pot stuck on his head." Everypony looked at Rainbow Dash, who was blushing, remembering that something similar had happened to her, but it was not her head that got stuck in a pot. "I believe it was due to doing a Sonic Rainboom to show off to everypony and camera flashes throwing him off balance."

"Sounds like a real dumba-GAH!" Rainbow Dash shouted, as more splinters were pulled out.

That caused the stallion to pause in the doorway, dressed with a fine informal torc covering his chest. It was an elegant dark blue that really stood out on his coat, as it was not dark to the point of being black. He was wearing black shoes that went fairly up his legs, a fine choice for a pony that saw fights often enough, although she hoped that he wouldn't go looking for one while he was here. He was wearing a modified helmet of her guards, changed into an old fashioned Romane version with gold highlights on the silver rim at the back of his head. She had no idea where he'd gotten it from as she doubted Rarity would approve of such a thing, nor did she expect him to take any of her guards' helmets away for something so trivial that he wasn't even wearing it properly.

His mouth hung for a moment before Rarity elbowed him, causing him to blush and shake his head. He bowed to them; it was a bow of apologizing to close friends, or that's what she thought as it was from the old Equestrian way of bowing. She was glad she had done away with most bowing, just one to show respect was enough for her.

"Rainbow Blitz- I mean Rainbow Dash, I do apologize for my more than necessary roughness in subduing you." He gave a weak smile; he was clearly uncomfortable about something. It was not about the fight or hurting the pegasus, Celestia could tell that much in how he acted and from what she saw of him before. He was a warrior and probably didn't put much in those who tried and failed to attack him. He also _wanted_ to get something on himself, and seemed to be at ease when he came in dressed. How od-

Her thoughts were interrupted when Artemis spoke again. "I should have more restraint and awareness of my surroundings." He walked over to her, taking wider steps around the mares in the room than a pony would normally do, and stared at the pegasus. "May I? Solaris and I were in countless battles together and my brother would be hard pressed to tend to his wounds, so the duty fell to me." His horn started to glow, with more wood chips flying out with ease and little shivers coming from Dash now. Spike decided to hop off of the stallion and back onto Twilight, who backed up into the side of the bed.

"Luna spoke the same to me when war was common enough for us to participate in, and I would be willing to wager that Solaris protested on the notion that _you_ needed more medical assistance?" His ears darted upwards in surprise and his cheeks reddened slightly as she guessed the truth, probably remembering similar experiences of her own.

"'Tis but a flesh wound," he grumbled, sending a small wave of healing magic over Dash. "Yet he would not be satisfied until he gave me a full inspection," he grumbled as he sat down on the floor, with Rainbow Dash turning around, shaking her body to loosen any wood chips left. "At least _I_ waited until we were alone to inspect him, it was not needed nor proper to do it in front of the soldiers," he grumbled, sitting down on the floor.

Instantly, Celestia felt terrible. She realized how _humiliating_ that must have have been to him, and she had done the same to Luna without any regards to her own pride back then. All that mattered to her was that Luna was fine, not bothering to think how her sister might take it to be pushed over, stripped of her armor and inspected for any serious wounds, as she _did_ have several bleeding stab wounds once, in front of all their soldiers. And she had brushed off her sister's protests as her simply being too stubborn to get the medical aid right away.

"Celestia," her eyes snapped to focus, looking at the stallion who was staring at her. "If I were to wager, I would bet that you realized of some pain you inflicted on Luna in the past."

She nodded numbly, feeling depressed as she started to think about each time her sister had protested about something, wondering how valid those complaints were. "I'm such-"

"Oh shut it," he snapped, rolling his eyes. The mares in the room gasped at him, disbelieving that a pony could be so rude to her. "We both know the truth of the matter is that we alicorns are not the most balanced creatures, our long lives makes us a bit more unaware of the feelings of others lest we get too attached." He stared at her, pausing to collect himself. "The best advice I can give is not to wallow in your failings but to talk to Luna. _Properly_." He narrowed his eyes at her, clearly wishing for only the best for Luna. Meet her twice and he was _already_ fiercely defensive for her wellbeing.

"Like you and Solaris have done?" She raised an eyebrow at him, causing him to blink and pull back. She would _not_ let him off that easily, despite his good intentions.

"I must admit that my brother and I are not that good at conversing our feelings or problems to each other without one of us resorting to blows…" He looked to the side, indicating who was the first to resort to physical confrontations.

"Man, you guys need a shrink or something," Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, flapping her wings into the air. "Uh, sorry I didn't mean anything wr-"

"A what?" Artemis blinked confused at her, stepping backwards as the mares started to come closer to her bed.

"A 'shrink' is another way of saying a doctor that special-" Twilight started to explain, going into her lecture mode.

"I need not another doctor," Artemis said from the outside of the small group of mares, eying them with some wariness, his breathing seeming to be a bit quicker to Celestia. "I mistrusted Solaris's word that a 'check up' after my thousand year absence would be needed and a simple affair," he shuddered, biting his lip. "I don't think making sure that I was completely intact nor injecting me with things were part of a simple 'check up'." His wings fluttered, as he shook his head.

Both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie laughed loudly at this, with Applejack shaking her head at her friends' laughter. Rarity seemed to be in the process of patting him on the shoulder but stopped herself. Fluttershy hid behind her mane with Twilight and Spike looking at her. Celestia blinked, pausing long enough to collect herself. She was really thrown off by this whole sister's-coltfriend-suddenly-being-here-and-everypony-knowing-she-kissed-his-older-brother problem.

"A 'shrink' is a pony that specializes in helping other ponies overcome their problems by talking about it and I do realize how _helpful_ that could have been with Luna and myself now that I say it." She let out a sigh, another mark against her.

"To make errors is to be living, and to be living means there is a chance to fix the mistakes." Artemis spoke, smiling at the mares. "As one to have my past, I know that it is possible to overcome the darkest of errors with the help of others."

"Wise words, Prince Artemis." Celestia smiled at him. Things were better now, now that her most trusted ponies were here. She was sure she could trust them to help her with this matter.

Soon, everything would be fi-

A loud grumble caused all of the ponies, and the dragon, to turn their attention to the blushing stallion, who was rubbing his hoof into the floor.

She smiled, raising an eyebrow at him. "I am curious, Prince Artemis, have you eaten anything since waking up?"

He unwisely shook his head in front of one party pony and one farm pony that came from a close knit family. He stood no chance when they grabbed his front legs and started to drag him off to the kitchen, with the rest of the ponies, and dragon, from the room following them.


	9. Chapter Seven - Luna

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-06-27 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Seven - Luna**

Solaris looked at the stallions in front of him and blinked. While he _had_ called them in, he hadn't expected Luna and him to have made peace.

"Prince Solaris, are you going to introduce us to your friend?" Elusive asked, probably thinking-

_NO!_

"Elusive, please, may I formally introduce you to Princess Luna, close friend to Prince Artemis." He frowned, letting go of Luna.

"Close friend?" Bubble Berry smiled, bouncing on the spot, looking at the confused mare in the room.

" _Close_ friend." Solaris answered, hopefully getting the point across that nopony was to touch her.

"Where'd she come from?" Rainbow Blitz asked, tilting his head, seeing the wings, horn and moon cutie mark that was identical to Arty's.

"Well Blitz, when a mare and a stallion _really_ like each other," Dusk taking things literally again, not noticing everyone of his friends facehooving as he spoke. "They-"

" _Egghead_ , I know about the birds and the bees," Blitz placed a hoof over his friend's mouth. "What I meant is that she is a dead ringer for Prince Artemis."

"If I may explain this Solaris," Luna took a step forwards, "Prince Artemis and I are two alternate versions of the other; the main difference between your realm and my one is that the gender of all the ponies," she blinked, spotting Barbara on on the Dusk Shine's back. " _And_ other creatures seems to be swapped." Solaris saw most of them blink in confusion, with Dusk and surprisingly Bubble Berry nodding their heads in understanding. "Prince Artemis and I managed to converse the day before in our private dream realm, though we were unsure of how this was possible. Last night, Prince Artemis and I were to meet again, when _my_ sister and Solaris here decided to listen to their hormones instead of their words when promising good behaviour as they kissed each other." This caused all of the stallions to reel back and stare at Solaris with a shocked face.

"Dude, even _I_ know that's a dumb move." Blitz glared at the pony before gulping at who he was glaring at. "I mean, Prince Solaris, I- I er-" he stammered, once again placing his hoof in his mouth.

"Enough," Solaris muttered, having dealt with enough ponies angry at him today. "I know my actions were most unwise, the point has been made clear by my guards and Eris hitting my head with a book." His head still stung from the blows; he might need to get ice for that growing lump on his head.

"Oh no!" Butterscotch squeaked out, causing everypony to stare at him. "I'm so sorry, I will go talk to her right away!" Before anypony could react, he had dashed out of the room in search of his friend.

"O…kay," Blitz watched his oldest friend, the same timid pony he knew from flight school run out to find his _weird_ marefriend and no doubt get her to apologize. Butterscotch and Eris hadn't said anything official yet, but it was clear to everypony how much the two cared for each other, with Butterscotch being the _one_ pony that could reign her in for some reason that made his head hurt when he tried to think about it. "But how did _she_ get here?" He paused, stepping closer to her. "And where the heck is Art- I mean, Prince Artemis?"

"I do not know where my brother is exactly, but it stands to reason that Princess Luna and Prince Artemis have switched places," Solaris said, taking a step closer to the daredevil pony. "The how is still unknown to us, which is why I have called in you six in as you have a bit more experience in the unusual and could try to provide an answer and a means to send Princess Luna back while retrieving my br- _Prince_ Artemis."

"Understandable, sir!" Rainbow Blitz did a quick salute before breaking out into a grin. "I'm sure that Egghead here will figure _something_ out." He gave a quick elbow to the frowning pony.

"Um, Princess?" Dusk walked over to the mare in the room, not noticing the disapproving look on Solaris's face. "Can you tell me _exactly_ what happened?" He turned his head to the dragon on his back. "Barb, can you take notes?"

"Sure thing!"

"Before you begin, may I be so bold to ask you some questions, your highness?" Elusive did a proper bow, frowning.

"You may Ra-," she blushed, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, what is your name?"

"My name is Elusive, your highness," the white stallion smiled, looking over her. "My question is two-fold; is the approach to clothing very lax in your world?"

"That depends on what you mean by lax; we primarily only dress for special occasions, though it varies from pony to pony, as some may choose to be dressed for day-to-day activities. In my case, I was ready for sleep when I went to meet Prince Artemis so I did not come over with anything on." She bit her lip, flicking her ear in annoyance. "I have not yet managed to find anything to wear."

"That's _horrible_!" he gasped into his hoof, causing Rainbow Blitz to roll his eyes. "Come, come, I will not stand for this!" He gestured to the door, starting to head out. "I will make you _gorgeous!_ "

Before Solaris knew what happened, his student, the young dragon, the tailor from the Carousel Boutique and his brother's marefriend were all gone, leaving the young weather pegasus and the young farmer in the room.

He then noticed something very troubling that made him worry for his little ponies.

"Where is Bubble Berry?"

* * *

Princess Luna looked at the two ponies that walked by her, mentally making a map of this castle and willing to bet that they were heading to the fitting rooms for guard's armor as it was the sole place that really had any material to make any type of clothes.

"So Princess Luna, can you tell me what you think caused you and Prince Artemis to switch places?" the smaller alicorn asked, looking over at her. If he was anything like Twilight Sparkle, he was _only_ looking at her for scientific reasons, not really _looking_ at her.

"Well, Dusk Shine is it?" she received a nod, and she smiled at herself for remembering his name. "From what I do remember last night, Prince Artemis and I were explaining to our older siblings about our displeasure at their actions. We then flew away from… no it cannot be _that_ simple, surely not!" She shook her head, doubting it was truly a matter of leaving from a different place.

"What is it Princess?" She blinked, hearing the same concerned urgency from this stallion that she heard from her sister's most prized pony.

"While we did fly to opposite ends from where we entered, that should not have been the cause as it _was_ my… _our_ dream realm." She tapped her chin, trying to figure this particular perplexing puzzle out. "It would cause some serious power to do something like this."

"Your highness, we're here!" The grinning tailor gestured towards a set of doors. Sending his own magic hold out, he opened the doors wide for her, bowing his head as she walked in. Instantly the guards within the room snapped to attention, giving deep bows to the princess they were quickly growing fond of and to the new prince of Equestria, one they knew very well as he was viewed as a little brother to most of them. They also nodded respectfully towards the well groomed stallion and smiled at the dragoness.

"Hello… my little ponies," she was a bit unsure of how to address them, as she was _not_ their Diarch. "I was led to believe that this fine stallion can help me gain some appropriate attire."

"Indeed!" Elusive shook his well maintained mane, guiding the mare to the circular surrounding mirror room so the tailors could properly fit the guards with their armor. "Please step here and let me create!" He smiled, his magic starting to levitate several items, with a measuring tape floating over to her.

Luna was amused by both by his enthusiasm and the pointed looks he was getting from the guards, clearly having trouble deciding whether or not to yank him back by his ear for being so forward. Staying as still as possible, she let the tape flow around her body, smiling at the well fitting numbers he called out to himself.

"So Princess Luna, can you tell me more about your realm?" Dusk Shine said, sitting down to watch his friend work his magic. The dragon was already scribbling down some notes, "Maybe if we can figure out something that is different in your realm then here, we can pinpoint _why_ you are here."

"Well, you se-EEE!" Luna let out a shriek as the cold metal tip touched her belly, flapping her wings out in surprise. "That was overly cold!" she snapped at the blushing unicorn, who had the attention of several annoyed guards now.

"Sorry your highness!" He blushed, looking at the sharp spears pointed at him. Despite the fact that the spears were still at the guard's sides, although a bit relaxed now, he had learned from his first Grand Galloping Gala that it meant they had their eyes on him and he was close to being poked with the pointy end again. "Almost done with your measurements, a _fine_ figure I must say! Just stay still as I measure your hooves..."

She meeped, her ear tips starting to get red as the paper went across a more ticklish spot on her body.

"Well, Dusk Shine, while I do know the Elements of Harmony are the same ponies here in my realm, judging by your cutie marks, I do not know-"

"The same, really?" Elusive inquired, as he floated over some material over to her. "Is the mare version of me a tailor too?"

"Yes, Rarity is the fashionista of the Carousel Boutique as well as the Element of Generosity. She does live with her sister Sweetie Belle as I assume you do with your young brother?"

"Silver Bell," Elusive spoke with some hesitation, "He does live with me as Mother and Father are a bit too busy see to his needs _and_ I can make sure he turns into a proper gentlecolt." He gulped as he started to look at a sketching book he had out and the material he had over her body. "I am almost afraid to ask, but are the Cutie Mark Cavaliers-"

"Yes, they do exist in my realm too," she answered, eyes closed as she started to remember the more outlandish stories that her sister and Twilight had told her of the three fillies trying to gain their cutie marks. "Except they call themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo are part of their little group."

"They are called Applebuck and Scooterroll here," Dusk Shine spoke, shuddering as he remembered the many crazy adventures those colts had, and he could not count the times that Bubble Berry's Berry sense was the only thing that had stopped him from spending time in the hospital after the colts' speeding through the town on their scooter and wagon.

"What about the rest of us, your highness?" Elusive asked as he began to float over more material, tearing out some pages in rejection, frowning as he was trying to create something wonderful.

"Well, your Rainbow Blitz?" She raised an eyebrow, turning her head to Dusk Shine to see him nod in agreement. "In my realm, she is known as Rainbow Dash and what I remember from Twilight Sparkle, your representative self in my realm, is that she is the fastest young filer, a daredevil of sorts, desires to join the Wonderbolts, the Element of Loyalty, and-"

"Bit of an arrogant jerk of a friend, with a lazy streak as far as he can fly, impossible to bring to fancy places, one devious prankster, and the most dependable friend that will always come to your side in a pinch?"

"I suppose, as I have not spent much time around her," she spoke, looking at the alicorn and not the materials that were flying around her.

"So how about the rest of us, Princess Luna?" Dusk Shine asked, more interested in her version of his friends then his original purpose.

"Well, in my world, that pink pony in your group is Pinkamena Diane Pie, known as Pinkie Pie, is one very energetic pony-"

"Oh sweet Faust, there is another Bubbleson Rube Berry‽" one of the mare guards yelped, running from the room.

Luna watched the mare run from the room with dull surprise, with most of the ponies shuddering in fear and terror of another pony like _that_ existing. She did not blame them, understanding the terror quite well.

"Do- does this Pinkie Pie have some sort of se-" Dusk asked hesitantly, his mane starting to spring out in fear as his mind was trying not to think about Berry Sense again and how little sense it made!

"Yes, she does and she calls it Pinkie Sense," she glanced at the terrified alicorn. "And no, Princess Twilight Sparkle has not managed to unravel how that pony does as she does."

Dusk sighed, a bit relieved that some _other_ pony had not figured that mystery out. He was a scholar as well as a bit of scientist, so if anypony were to figure that mystery out would be _him!_

If he ever dared to pick up his research from the last time...

"How about the Element of Honesty? In our realm, he is a farmer pony, works at Sweet Apple Acres, has a little brother named Applebuck."

"Yes, in my realm her name is Applejack, what is his-" She blinked as both the alicorn and tailor broke out in laughter.

"It figures that Applejack would still be Applejack in _both_ realms." Elusive shaking his head, going back to focus on her dress, nearly finished with it. He was not normally one to design dresses but this was a true challenge and the first time he was creating for a princess! "Mind staying still a bit longer, wings out if you would please?"

Flexing her long wings out with some mutters of amazement from the guards around her, Luna kept her eyes on the alicorn in front of her.

"If I were to wager, the yellow pegasus that ran from Solaris's study was the Element of Kindness going to see his draconequus friend?"

"Yes, Butterscotch- wait, are you saying that his mare self is in a relationship with your Eris too‽" Dusk's mouth hung low in shock with the mares wondering how that was possible for a mare to tame a male Eris. Then their faces went from shock to dirty smug looks as they elbowed each other.

"Yes, Fluttershy has managed to calm down Discord's more outlandish side, and formed a particularly deep friendship with the draconequus." She coughed and glared at the guards, reminding them of their strict prince of the night, snapping them back into a proper demeanor. "I-

"And finished, your highness!"

Luna blinked and looked at the mirrors set up for her, ready to see his work for her at long last. She was immediately taken aback by the simple, yet formal look of the outfit he had created for her. The bold yet sly look of the semi opaque, deep purple torc he had placed on her, along with short, similarly shaded boots he was floating over for her to step into.

"Elusive?" Luna asked, glancing between her and the outfit, looking at herself in those elegant boots, biting her lip.

"Yes?" Elusive replied, begging that it was not a complaint about the outfit like he got from that _very_ unladylike princess Bluebelle that kept coming to his store and ordering dresses only to complain abou-

"Well, it's just that-"

"EEE-YEEEEESSSSS?" Elusive leaned in and gave her a look, remembering how that unicorn mare had never let the 'gala' incident go and her latest attempt to drive him out of business was bad mouthing his work! Then he glanced at the sharp spears pointed at his neck, some of them pricking his neck and gulped. "I am terribly sorry, I had a flashback to a most unpleasant client. That was most unprofessional of me, and I-"

"I was merely going to ask if I could wear a simple diadem with this lovely outfit, mister Elusive," Luna said, trying to placate Elusive and the guards, but she did not wish to overstep her boundaries as she was not an official authority figure here.

"Oh, but of course! Did you have a design for your diadem in mind?" Elusive cautiously inquired, trying to salvage this disastrous event!

"I was thinking about going with a pearlescent black, with this particular crystal in mind," Luna replied, holding up a light blue crystal with a very translucent bright green swirling mist inside. Elusive and the dragoness both gawked at the beautiful, rare, and delicious (to the young dragoness) gem. Elusive eventually got back to his senses from the shining gem, but the dragoness was still daydreaming about how wonderful it must taste.

"Yes, yes, that'll be easy, darling! And may I say, oh my _stars_ that is an astounding gem!" Elusive enthusiastically exclaimed, his own special talents telling him it was nearly flawless!

"Thank you, I found this in Artemis's room after my early vocal disagreement with Solaris caused some property damage." She blushed at how immature her earlier behaviour was, although the mares had given her a lot of praise for daring to knock Solaris down a peg as they put it. "I do believe it was meant to be a gift to you, little dragon," Luna explained, remembering how fine it was wrapped up and one of the guards, an orange pegasus that had been sent on ice cream runs, had mentioned the possibility. "Now, could you please?" Luna asked with all the grace she could manage, still in disbelief at how wonderful she looked.

"Oh, right! As you wish, my grace." Elusive replied, remembering his current task. He picked up the gem, and closed his eyes as he focused to create the simple crown around the gem. He then cocooned them in his magic, sealing the crystal in place permanently. Afterwards, he placed the diadem on Princess Luna's head, tucked just behind her horn.

"Wow Elusive, you _really_ outdid yourself this time!" The dragoness, Barb, if Luna was recalling correctly, beamed at the stallion, clearly having the same crush that Spike did towards Rarity.

"Please, I-" Luna began to protest the praise, but she was cut off by the stomps of approval from the mares, walking over to her to better observe the fine outfit she had on. She blushed deeply as they complimented her slight and slender form, with some of them asking the barely restrained grinning stallion if he could make a dress for them.

"Your highnesses, Sir Elusive and Lady Barbara," the same orange pegasus mare from before spoke, stepping in the room, gaining frowns and glares from other guards. Dusk Shine for some reason seemed to be blush-Oh buck her, it couldn't be _his_ female self here, could it? "Sir Bubble Berry wished to invite you all to, and I quote, 'A fabulous, wondrous, super duper welcome lunch party for Princess Luna.'"

"Well, then we should not keep your friend waiting, should we, gentlecolts?" Luna smiled, as Dusk Shine stood up, with the dragoness hopping onto his back with Elusive writing down details for his future clients. "Oh and you too, lady Barbara," she blushed a bit, almost forgetting the dragoness. The guards formed a quick wall around her, some of them still complimenting her dress. "Lead on."

She was still smiling as they left the room, the doors closing with a simple _click_.


	10. Chapter Eight - Artemis

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-07-10 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Eight - Artemis**

Celestia chuckled as she watched the poor stallion stare at another plate being placed in front of him by the grinning earth pony. While Pinkie Pie had started to bake up several fine cupcakes and dishes for the stallion and the little group to enjoy, it had taken Applejack all of a few seconds to notice how thin he was before taking over kitchen duties to make a proper meal to "fill 'em out proper-like" as she had put it.

He was too polite to refuse the extra servings and hesitantly began to eat his fourth slice of apple pie with the rest of the little group either watching him or busy digging into their own plate.

"Come on sugarcube, ya gotta eat up," Applejack said, elbowing him in the side, digging into her own plate as she sat down. "Otherwise ya can't eat them cupcakes and Pinkie Pie here would be crushed to hear that." She nodded her head to the other mare on his side, who was bouncing in her spot; not too subtly trying to examine him.

"Yup!" She smiled, rubbing a hoof across his wing again and moving a loose feather she'd found from him around her mouth. "Wow, you really do have same wings as Princess Luna!"

"T-thank you Miss Pie," Artemis whined, pushing his wing into his side and shuffling away from her again. "But I must insist you stop doing that!"

"But you've got the coolest wings ever, well second to Dashie, or maybe third after Princess Celestia or-"

A blue magic aura grabbed her and levitated her to the far end of the table, next to Dash who blinked upwards, the borrowed helmet clunking over her face again. Celestia took the chance to move over to the stallion, who had the glares of the mares pointed at him for doing that incredibly rude thing. Celestia moved the plate holding far more sweets than _she_ would ever eat to the far end for Pinkie Pie to go back to eating. She was now eying the helmet that Rainbow Dash had insisted on wearing like Artemis did, but it was clear that one size did not fit all.

"Miss Pie, I do not think Prince Artemis appreciated your inspection." Celestia smirked softly as she watched him start to relax, clearly not a touchy-feely pony. "If you can restrain yourself in the future, as not all ponies are as comfortable with such close contact with others as you are."

"Thank you Celestia," Artemis nodded his head to her. Celestia saw his eyes flick towards the mares around the room who were frowning at him. He then flicked his eye back at her, nodding his head a bit again, indicating he was up to something and was giving her some warning. "Is there a problem, Ms. Twilight?" he called out to her former student, who was still very protective of the alicorn of the sun.

"I cannot believe how rude you are to the Princess!" Twilight snapped at him, a part of her mane springing outwards.

"And?" He smirked at her for obvious reasons and Celestia hoped that Twilight was aware he was goading her…

"And you should stop being rude to her!" She slammed her hooves into the table, proving her wrong. "I cannot understand why Princess Celestia is allowing you to speak to her like that!"

"If I might be so bold, I believe she knows I am trying to teach you something and if I overstep my bounds, I am sure she will stop me." Celestia nodded to the stallion, seeing exactly where he was going with this little improv lesson. It was something she had been reluctant to teach her former student; a point that Cadance and Luna had been arguing with her about how it was only hurting Twilight in the long run and would be harder to impact the importance of the lesson on the newest princess the more Celestia waited. But she didn't want to break that innocence that Twilight had… "Good, now let me ask you a question, Twilight: why should I?"

Her former student frowned, getting off her seat and walking over to him. He flashed a frown to Princess Celestia, disappointment clear on his face. She could swear she heard him mutter, "And I thought Solaris was bad with Dusk Shine…"

"Why‽" Twilight pointed a hoof at his chest, her anger of her former teacher being disrespected clearly overriding her thoughts. "Because she's the princess of Equestria and you should show her respect!"

"That's a reason why one should show respect. That's _not_ what I asked you." He smirked at her, lifting a fork to his mouth.

"Yes it is! You asked me why you should stop being rude to her-"

"No I did not." He kept his face calm and neutral, infuriating the latest alicorn. "I asked you why I should, to your request, stop being rude. I had hoped you would realize that I am not being rude to her in the first place at all."

That caught her off guard, and by the sounds of it, the other mares and the young dragon as well.

"The point is that Celestia and I did speak before, and my initial anger," he paused, blinking for a moment. _How interesting_ … Celestia thought to herself. "Er, I mean my _conflict_ with her has been resolved for the time being, and thus we are at a neutral state. The point is that because of what has happened, I have a chance to take a dig at my bro- _Celestia_ and I _never_ pass one up when _he_ bucks up." He grinned broadly, which Twilight and Applejack understood as the glee of a younger sibling being able to bug an older sibling without any consequences. He got a glare from Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Celestia that only an older sibling could make when a younger sibling did something stupid. It made him swallow and blush, digging into his plate. "Although I will restrain myself, as it _is_ a bit petty and wrong to bring the Stables into this place."

"The Stables?" Twilight blinked at him, obviously confused.

"It's what we call the political game between nobles." He let out a sigh, rubbing his face. Celestia understood; she _hated_ the Grounds, it gave her so many headaches. "It's full of ponies backstabbing each other in order to get more power in the government, with some doing it in a very repulsive manner and some in a very refreshing manner." He paused to gather himself, taking a sip of some water as Celestia refused to break out the wine for a lunch despite his and Rainbow Dash's pleas. "I'm sure you realize how much an important piece you are, right Twilight?"

"No...?"

Artemis sighed and shook his head. "Celestia, you are almost as bad as Solaris, he muttered as he shot her a dirty look. "At least you had the sense to teach her to avoid _all_ strange stallions. Right?" he begged her, Celestia eye's widening at how irresponsible this Solaris was. Then again, she was hearing a one-sided version from an angry pony, an angry younger brother to boot. Still, she had to nod, which made him sigh. "I had to bring forth a few nightmares to a few…" he paused, trying to find a proper word possibly. "Dumb fuc-"

"A-HEM!" Celestia snapped a glare at him, getting tired of how foul his language was.

"Sorry Celestia, I am much more blunt in my speech than most ponies, and my swearing is something that my older brother has never managed to _fix_." He gave her a cocky grin, his arrogance causing her to flick her ear. "I'll _try_ to curb my tongue, but I'm not going to give you any promises." He turned his attention back to the wide-mouthed Twilight.

"That's the kind of piece you _are_." He pointed a hoof at her as he caught her off guard. "Impossible to touch due to Celestia, filled with enough clout to do what you wish because of your title as Princess and Element of Magic, and _innocent_ enough not to abuse that power." He poked her nose with a hoof. "You do not understand how much you could change things around here, and how important it is for _you_ to understand that properly." He looked around the room, eyeing all the mares. "Each one of you are a very powerful player and protected powerhouse in the Stables, even more so with your connection to Celestia and Twilight here, besides being Elements of Harmony."

"Miss Apple, you have a royal blessing from Celestia, I'm guessing, that places nearly all of Ponyville under your hooves, and you are a living lie detector. No pony could dare try to use you without it backfiring horribly and letting all the other nobles pounce on their mistake."

"Miss Rarity, are you not involved with a business partner named Royal Splendor, or whatever her male name is?" He watched her nod her head. "If I am correct, he is a fine, respectable pony in love with a pony named Flavien de Los, again along those lines of whatever his female name is?" Another nod. "He is doing a _lot_ to protect you, probably throwing his weight around to make sure the lesser nobles don't try anything with you and the upper nobles won't dare to interfere with his plans."

"Miss Fluttershy, are you not involved with whatever Eris is called here?" He got a meep and a quick shake of the head, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "The draconequus? Are you not friends with him?" She nodded her head now, causing him to blink again. "Interesting…" He blinked, rubbing his chin with a fetlock. "But in any case, you are an extremely dangerous player as anyone that would wish to touch you would have to deal with _him_ reading that as trying to use you, whatever the case may be, which no pony is stupid enough to attempt, no matter the possible gain."

"You, Miss Dash and Miss Pie, are too random and too unpredictable to be of any use, and trying to turn ponies like you, if Sir Rainbow Blitz and Sir Bubble Berry are anything to base my knowledge on, will never work without them needing to make very bold moves that one pony like Celestia could easily counter."

"And then there is you, Twilight. Again, you are the most powerful pony born in a long time, alicorn status aside, have the ear and support of _rulers_ at the tip of your hooves, and you have little to _no_ ties with any of the nobles, which means that no noble can touch you without every other noble going to counter the move, bringing everything down on their heads." He paused, nodding his head towards Celestia. "Or with her being th-"

There was a slam of the doors that caused everypony and dragon to stare at the stallion flaunting inwards.

"Auuuuuntie, I _must_ speak with you-" Before he could finish or Artemis could start, Celestia coughed in the way that said _Shut up, you are not wanted!_

"Nephew, if you could please restrain yourself for the moment," she smiled at him in her usual motherly persona, with slight modifications to show her annoyance. "As you see, I am entertaining a little group of personal friends. If you wish, you may join us and we can talk later."

The privileged stallion looked at the group of ponies and frowned with a twitching eye; the pink uncultured buffoon, the insufferable annoying braggart and possible fillyfooler, that dumb hick from a most certainly inbred family, some random stallion next to that stupid naive _princess_ , Aunt Celestia, an empty spot where that _princess_ was probably sitting until she got up, that disgusting coward fool that was most certainly bucking that monster Discord, that pipsqueak excuse of a dragon, and **_her_**.

Five of those mares were bad enough, but **_she_** was a constant pain in his flanks; one that simpleton Fancy Pants had _tried_ to uplift that had caused him so much grief to make sure she was still in her place!

"I'm sorry Auntie, but I have no desire to sit with _them_ , I just wished to talk about-"

"A matter about building a new house near Ponyville that _Princess_ Luna rejected?" Artemis smirked, swirling around his water in his glass. Celestia frowned, wishing to have the stallion stay quiet a bit longer. She did not want Artemis to cause any headaches for her to deal with, and having Artemis speak to Blueblood would only make things worse with how blunt he spoke.

"H-how did you know?" Blueblood looked surprised and a bit panicky now.

"Twilight, consider this part of the lesson," Artemis took a sip of his glass. "Normally, a noble would wish to make sure that his plans are not known to any unknown third party. A good noble would just brush off the issue until later while a poor one would panic like that." He pointed a hoof at the unicorn stallion.

"WHO ARE YOU!" Blueblood snapped, pawing at the floor.

"Another fault you _must_ avoid," he tsked his head, looking at Twilight alone, not bothering to pay the stallion across from him any attention. "You simply cannot allow your emotions to take control of your senses." He shot a sad look at Blueblood, who was turning red now, ears back as a few of the mares around them were laughing at him.

"He is quite right dear," Rarity smiled pointedly at him, enjoying a chance to see the lout make a fool of himself. She had never forgiven him for that gala incident all those years ago; Tartarus hath no fury like a mare scorned. "A _true_ lady never lets her temper get the best of herself."

"Quiet you!" Blueblood snapped, his own hatred of her nearly as fierce as Rarity's hatred of him. "If I wanted to hear from some _bumpkin_ I would ask-"

"Excuse me!" Artemis snapped his attention towards the stallion. "I do believe that is _most_ inappropriate language to a fair lady like Miss Rarity and I think, nay, _demand_ an apology for her this instant!" He slammed his hoof into the table dramatically, causing the mares around the princess to gasp. Celestia was doing everything within her power _not_ to laugh; this was one of the most _basic_ setups in the Grounds.

"An apology?" he shrieked, pointing a hoof at the mare in question. "To **_her_** ‽" He stamped his hoof into the floor, horn lowered for a moment, saying _I'd rather kill her then ever apologize to her!_ "Never!"

"Then I challenge you to a fight for her honour!" Artemis goaded the ignorant fool into his trap; oh how she _hoped_ that Twilight was paying attention!

"FINE!" he yelled, eyes twitching with anger. "I accept your foolish challenge!"

"Twilight," Artemis spoke without breaking eye contact with the stallion. "An important lesson here; _always_ know who you are facing." His grin grew. "Do you have any idea of _who_ I am?"

"A stupid fool! I am one of the best duelists in all of Equestria!" the spoiled noble shouted, his horn glowing.

"Oh? Can you do this?" Artemis collapsed into smoke, and dove forwards in front of the table. Blueblood's horn went off like a lightswitch, his eyes growing wide in fear as Artemis reformed himself in front of the table. "Or-" A clone of Artemis appeared, walking up behind Blueblood on his right side. Not many ponies knew it but Blueblood had a bit of a blind spot there due to a cake incident in the past, and it _always_ spooked him when somepony came from that angle. "This?" Another one walked up from his other side, the three stallions all smiling smugly at the panicking unicorn.

"N-n-no but-" the stallion was backing up, seeing what Celestia saw; Artemis had not _once_ lit his horn.

"And this is not even my true form!" The Artemises grinned, showing sharp teeth and flaring their wings which caused the stallion to nearly fall to the floor in fear. "Now, I will be merciful and give you three options: apologize to Lady Rarity, fight me, or run away." The one that came from the smoke leaned in close. "I won't think less of you if you choose to run, only because I don't think much of you to begin with."

Blueblood's eyes darted towards Celestia, who gave him a stone face of indifference. _You made your bed, you must sleep in it._

"Well?" The Artemis on his right leaned in close, causing the prince to whimper. "What's your choice?"

The stallion let out a yelp as he backed up and dashed out the doors, stumbling as he hit them. Somepony had closed them and Celestia had a good idea of _who_.

The Artemises waited until the sound of fleeing hooves had faded before breaking out in laughter, Celestia quickly following suit. Rainbow Dash flew over and gave the real stallion a hearty pat on the back, grinning wildly.

"That was _amazing_!" She grinned, not paying attention to the disappearing stallions. "Finally, somepony put that jerk in his place!"

"Ah'll say!" Applejack grinned, brushing off her hat. "You got his tail in a twist!"

"Thank you, dear!" Rarity elegantly walked over to him, smiling gratefully that the prince was gone and probably going to leave her alone now. "I cannot thank you enough for this."

"'Twas nothing," Artemis smiled, leaping over the table and making a small, sharp turn into his spot. "So Twilight, tell me, what did you learn _just now_?"

"...That your presentation towards other nobles is very _crude_ and quick to the point." She frowned, unused to seeing such actions from anypony. Celestia sighed, seeing the effect of how sheltered her former student had become under her wings.

"To a degree…" Artemis frowned. " _My_ presentation is one that demands proper respect from all and complete indifference to those who do not show it to me." His frown deepened, his ear flicking in a tell-tale manner of deep thought. " _Was_ , as I should say. I did fall because of my obsession with gaining the proper respect I felt I deserved," he sighed, inadvertently revealing a very juicy piece of information. Artemis fell due to his anger because of a lack of respect. It was similar to her sister's own fall, but it was not the same as being jealous due to the believed lack of proper love and respect from the ponies. Celestia could _see_ the differences in both of the lunar alicorns' falls and it was very interesting in itself, filing it away for later examination. "My current presentation is much more humble now than it was a thousand years ago, as I've _started_ to learn how to _relax_ due to Prince Dusk Shine and his friends' aid."

" _That_ was humble‽" Dash asked in shock, staring at the stallion. "Remind me never to get _you_ pissed off!"

"Trust me, Miss Dash, my anger is the _one_ thing I can control." His glare at the pegasus told Celestia that it was a bold-faced lie; he clearly had anger issues that he barely had under control. "This persona I put forth for the nobles is one that I am most comfortable with, as well as the most productive when dealing with them as you just saw. Clearly, you shouldn't, nor would I ever wish you to, use the same methods _I_ use. I have built up a thousand years of such behaviour, and consequently ponies expect to see me like this, though I _am_ trying to change it. You should _not_ be the same arrogant plothead I once was, nor should you _ever_ try to manipulate your standings like that foal did." He frowned at his plate, his past faults clearly on his mind. "Trust me on this matter, you will lose your friends in either attempt."

"You're not _always_ like this, are you?" Twilight asked, blinking and stepping backwards. "I- I don't mea-"

"No, thank Faust I'm _not_ ," he sighed, poking the slice of apple pie on his plate. "One final lesson, Twilight. _Never_ play the Stables with your family or friends; _always_ try to be honest and straightforward with them." He crumpled inwards, his magic grip shattering the fork. "Sweet Faust, don't ever make the same mistakes I did with Celly. I… never forgave myself for what I did and I'm still not sure I-"

He was cut off when Twilight hugged him, causing the stallion to tense up. He stayed like that for a short while before pulling away, blinking with heavy eyes.

"Th- thank you, Miss Twilight," he leaned against the table, yawning. "I thi- I think I needed that." He blinked again, a bit unsteady on his hooves.

Celestia smiled to herself; it seems that Artemis had put himself through a bit too much without taking a bre-

**THUD**

Blinking, Celestia saw that Artemis had fallen over onto Twilight, lightly snoring as he pulled her close to his chest.

Twilight gave a fear filled look, wondering what she should do. Celestia leaned down to pick him off of her when she heard him mutter something that made her heart jump.

" _Luna_..."


	11. Chapter Eight - Luna

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-07-10 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

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**Chapter Eight - Luna**

Luna smiled as the two stallions looked around the hall with obvious anxiety at the prospect of more energetic than normal party, while Barbara seemed to only have eyes for Elusive. It seemed that certain things were always the same; the dragon assistant was in love with the Element of Generosity and the Element of Laughter's party was still the mind defying results of _that_ mare- stallion as he was here.

"Gentlecolts, please be at ease," Luna said softly, trying to put them at a more relaxed state, despite the obviousness intimidation in her own voice. "I am quite sure that any party that your friend has planned will be…" she paused, trying to find the right words. "Interesting to say the very least." She smiled again, a bit uncertain about the 'fabulous, wondrous, super-duper welcome lunch party' planned for her. Despite this Bubble Berry having done nothing to her, and Pinkie Pie _had_ matured in her approach to parties according to Twilight, the old phrase _once bitten, twice shy_ came into her mind.

"Oh, of course Princess!" Flare Scout said, with a bit of a forced smile. She got some disapproving looks from the other guards, causing her to flinch slightly. She knew why _she_ and _he_ got so much flak from everypony; it was well known that Dusk Shine and Twilight Sparkle had gone off on some important duty for their crown and physical Element of Magic, and when the new alicorn had come back, a guard saw the unicorn turned alicorn talking with the new recruit. A chain of miscommunications led everypony to believe that the guard was trying something with a socially inept pony, and that was a _big_ no no.

She feared the day when Twilight went on her first date; she wasn't sure who would be worse, the guards, Shining Armor, her friends, or Celestia. She knew _something_ would happen that day and she would be as far away from it as possible while still being able to observe it. Maybe with Discord, it would be safe enough…

"Sh-she's right, your highness." Dusk blushed, trying _not_ to look at the pegasus, who was very subtly shooting death glares at the prince. Luna sighed, wondering if Artemis had had the same talks with her that she had gone through with Flash Sentry. She had seen his dreams; filled with a wide range of negative emotions directed right at the princesses. She had spoken to him about it when she caught him telling off Twilight in a _very_ vulgar way in his dreams.

He had told her that ever since he had the unfortunate luck to run into Twilight, his military career had been hell. All of a sudden he got insultingly basic recruit level assignments, he was getting disciplined over matters that would normally be overlooked for any guard of his years and every attempt to talk to his superiors about this sudden change was met with sharp rebukes about him not fulfilling his duties and being a miserable guardspony.

He soon put it together, and when he realized what happened, had gone to Shining Armor about the whole matter in an attempt to clear things up with the head of the Crystal Pony Guards. He'd _nearly_ made it until Cadance came into the room with a letter from Twilight talking about her time in the human world and the pegasus stallion's counterpart she'd met in great detail. Then everything went to Tartarus; everything became _stricter_ for the poor pony, to the point where Cadance and Shining Armor had to have him transferred over to the Royal Guards at the castle in attempts to make things easier and fairer for him again.

Needless to say it didn't last, as guards _did_ gossip and his unwanted reputation followed him there, and things went to Tartarus again. It did _not_ help that there _were_ some feelings from the new alicorn, alicorns as it were the case, towards the pegasus, or pegasi or _whatever_!

Luna did not _know_ how many times she'd had to comfort the pony in his dreams and try her best to keep Celestia in the dark about it as her sister was a tad overprotective at times.

"Berry's parties are _the_ best thing!" Dusk smiled, nodding his head towards the orange mare; a mean prank that some unicorn had done, removing the disguise spell that all guard's armor had to make each of them appear near identical to one another and refused to put it back once the news broke.

Flash Sentry got in a lot of trouble over that as he usually couldn't find a unicorn to recast the spell and once he _did_ find one, the spell never lasted long enough for him to escape punishment details. He had nopony to go to about it, as Luna was usually asleep and he was smart enough to avoid Celestia. Luna had promised him that she would _try_ to do something about the whole problem and she was influencing the dreams of the guards to make them aware that Flash Sentry was a decent and innocent pony.

Flare Scout did her best to give him a stony glare, but her clear annoyance at the pony that was affecting her life ruined it. She stood in front of the door, pausing to collect herself, and knocked on the door. "Prince Solaris, Princess Luna, Prince Dusk Shine," there was a _very_ subtle change of tone, one that Luna picked up on, "Sir Elusive and Lady Barbara are present. Shall I send them in?"

"Yes, yes, please send them in, Flare Scout," Solaris's voice called out, causing the mare to pull back very slightly. Luna saw, to her displeasure, that this minute sign of emotions got very pointed looks from the guards around her. Faust above, Luna _needed_ to talk to her sister about this, and make _sure_ that Solaris knew about this whole problem. "I don't think Bubble Berry can wait much longer."

Two unicorn guards stepped in front of the small group, using their magic to open the doors. Luna braced herself for the onslaught of the insanity from surely out-of-control-

"Princess?" A concerned voice broke her out of trance, causing her to blink at the pink pony in front of her. "Are you okay?"

Luna looked around the room. A grandiose, and perhaps overly abundant amount of streamers hung from every truss, an assault on the eyes with weapons of color and pizzazz. Balloons floated across the ceiling, drifting in a breeze from the open window, and everywhere there were the five male ponies and the female draconequus that she'd come to know in the brief time there.

There was one key feature of the whole celebration that caught her attention, and it stood out above the rest: the colours and theme were that of the evening. It was subtle touches here and there, a window covered there to bring out some nice shadow effects that she _only_ saw in the old moving pictographs that Celestia once showed her and an open window brought a nice breeze that reminded her of nice midnight so long ago when things were a lot simpler, and many other thing that made her heart swoon.

Subtle order hidden in chaos. Only Pink- _Bubble Berry_ could do that.

"Yes, Bubble Berry," she smiled gently, "I am most assuredly fine."

"That's great!" The pink pony grin grew. "I didn't have _nearly_ enough time to get my in-case-of-alternate-selves-party ready, but I hope you enjoy it!"

"Well, I-"

"Woah, Luna!" Eris floated over to her, eyes trailing up and down her form. "You look _amazing_!" She then leaned over the tailor unicorn and gave him a very generous pat on the back. "You really outdid yourself this time, L!"

"Thank you Eris," the stallion's eye twitched, no doubt at the nickname. "It was a pleasure to make an outfit for _somepony_ who doesn't complain about standing still for more than five seconds." All of the stallions, including Prince Solaris, looked at their hooves at this unsubtle jab. Butterscotch simply stood up and walked over to the draconequus. Eris instantly folded inwards, muttered a soft apology to the unicorn and lifted the pegasus back to his seat, going back to hovering over his head.

"Please, Elusive, it takes _years_ for one to learn any measure of patience, let alone the ability to stand still for a fitting," she chuckled, rolling her eyes at the stallions and how this Butterscotch had tamed this draconequus! "It amazes me that Celestia has so many dresses, considering how much she hems over her ponies during her fittings."

"Well, I suppose takes a _true_ princess to have such grace." Elusive smiled, nodding his head and walking over to an empty chair on the far left.

"To be fair, Sir Elusive," Prince Solaris chuckled softly, clicking his tongue. "Most of the time I am trying to imprint the notion that I am a _normal_ pony to most of my little ponies when getting a suit, with a few eccentricities."

"A few eccentricities does not explain why Celestia, or _you_ as I am willing to guess, had such trouble with a pony named Slim Fi-"

"Sweet Faust, do _not_ bring that up!" Solaris threw his hooves up, telling her the _exact_ same incident had happened to Solaris too. Well, not the _exact_ as she seriously doubted he would need a girdle for a dress… "Please, take your seat Luna, I think one certain pony is _dying_ to start this little party for you."

"YUP!" The pink stallion bounced in front of her. "Come, sit so I can get out the cake for you!"

"T-thank you, Bubble Berry." Luna nodded her head, blushing slightly. "Let me go sit down so we can start this party of yours." She quickly walked around the table, moving towards the last two empty seats on both of Solaris' sides. One was equal in height to his own and sitting directly in the middle of the table length, slightly off to the side like the Diarch's own chair was. The other one was shorter, down the left side of the table.

She gave Solaris a look, and he simply nodded to the tall chair. With his horn glowing, he pulled out the chair for her, causing her to widen her smile. Sitting down in what she realized was Artemis's usual chair, she had to refrain herself from taking too deep of a breath of air; she was really curious about how he smelled for some reason…

"Goodie!" The pink stallion bounced over with a wide grin, seeing that all the ponies were sitting down. "Now the party can begi-"

"Uncle Solaris." Luna blinked and turned her head to see a very dainty and well groomed unicorn mare sauntered into the room. Her blond mane was well brushed and was glistening; the fur around her hooves was very well maintained. Even though she was wearing a form covering _lovely_ dress, Luna could tell that this mare was well toned and did not have a single inch of fat on her body. Her cutie mark was-

Oh sweet Faust, this was _Blueblood's_ female self!

"Oh, I did not see you were having company," she giggled softly, which rubbed Luna's coat the wrong way in an instant. She stole a glance at Elusive, wondering if the situ- Yes, it was as the tailor was practically glowering at the mare. "Hello, dear heroes of Equestria," she gave a soft nod to all of them. "Tailor." She all but spat out the word, causing the white unicorn's coat to bristle. "Oh, hello there dearie, who might _you_ be?" She turned her eyes to Luna, causing the alicorn mare to blink.

"Princess Bluebelle, please meet Princess Luna," Solaris stood up, flexing his wing in a seemingly open and flippant manner; Luna, Bluebelle and probably Elusive saw it as a protective manner. "She is Prince Artemis's new friend and will be staying here for a period of time."

"Oh, _good_ ," she flashed a seemingly friendly smile; Luna knew when a noble was eager to play a card in the Grounds. "I do believe it would be good for Uncle Arty to have somepony to help him _relax_." She gave a hearty chuckle with Luna barely able to restrain herself from banishing this mare to the moon.

"Bluebelle, I do believe Prince Artemis has made it clear on numerous occasions that he does not care nor wish to be called as such." Solaris frowned, the disapproval from his voice causing the ponies in the room to flinch. "Also, I do _not_ appreciate your insinuations about my brother's new friend."

"But Uncle Solaris, it _would_ be good for Unc-," she gave a fake, innocent chuckle that told Luna how much that this _mare_ was enjoying this! By Faust's horn she thought Blueblood was bad, but he had _nothing_ on _this_ pony! "It would do him good to find some sort of way to relax. I mean, he was _so_ tense yesterday that he completely disregarded my perfectly good plans for a new summer-"

"My, it seems that _you_ need some rest, my dear," Luna spoke, taking a sip of the tea that was suddenly in front of her. Turning her eye, she saw the pink pony give her a grin and a shake of his puffy mane told her that he was responsible. "I do believe that Prince Artemis told you that this little plan was denied, in the Day Court, correct?" The mare nodded her head, opening her mouth to speak again, but Luna pressed her point. "It was a sealed matter, I do believe and that there were some prohibitions on bringing it up again, correct?"

"Y-yes, but you see-" she stuttered, obviously taken back by Luna's assault, leaving herself open for counters to her play.

"Solaris," she turned her head perfectly ninety degrees, pausing to take a sip of her perfectly blended tea. "I do believe that she needs some medical assistance if she could not remember such a decision made only yesterday."

"I think you are right Princess Luna." His smile twitched, showing that he was enjoying this as well. "Bluebelle, I _insist_ that you go to the royal doctors for a _complete_ check up."

"Oh, no, no, no," the unicorn backed up, shaking her head. "I am sure that is truly unneeded, I do not wish to waste their time."

"No, no, I _insist_ ," the alicorn of the day leaned his head straighter. "Guards, if you could please take Princess Bluebelle to the royal doctors, I would truly appreciate it." He nodded to the two guards that were on both sides of the annoyed noble. "Make _sure_ that they test for _everything_ , as I _truly_ care for my dear niece's health."

There was complete silence until the double doors closed, at which point everypony let out their laughter.

"Oh my, this is the _best_ party I've been to in a long time Bubbles," Eris flew over to the pink pony and gave him a raised paw. He gladly gave her a hoof bump which caused her to grin more. "Three cheers to Luna!" She held out a glass of chocolate milk, which Rainbow Blitz instantly clinked with his own glass of wine.

"Indeed," Elusive said with a simple smile, shaking his elegant mane. "It was very enjoyable seeing her put in her place." Clearing his throat, he raised his glass. "Three cheers for Princess Luna-"

He gasped as he saw her horn and eyes glow, with her looking around with fear.

"Luna, what's wrong?" Solaris leaned over, panicking as he held the mare in his hooves. "Tell me!"

"I- dream realm." she muttered, her eyes closing. She then fell asleep, muttering one word.

" _Artemis._ "


	12. Chapter Nine - Artemis

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-07-24 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Nine - Artemis**

Artemis blinked, looking around in his dream realm. His mind raced as he tried to figure out how he got here, as it was far too early for him to be asleep.

The last thing he remembered was yawning and then…

Artemis blushed as he had not fallen asleep like _that_ in a very long time, and he _only_ did that to Solaris.

His musing was cut off when he heard a sharp intake of air behind him.

Spinning around with his horn glowing, his eyes went wide as he saw the pony in his dream realm.

"Luna!" He let out a bit of surprised shout, his horn dimming immediately. He was unsure if he should rush to the mare, smile at her, or what! Solaris was _always_ better at th-

"Artemis," Faust above, _she_ seemed so much more at ease! "It is wonderful to see you again, but I would like to ask you a dual question." She said it so smoothly that he barely registered what she said.

She was strutting over to him, causing him to back up. He fought against the urge to clad himself in dream armor, settling on making a thicker torc appear.

"Y-yes Luna?" His ears went back, the tips reddening as he blushed a bit.

She giggled softly, causing his heart to race.

"Did you recently fall asleep, as in the last minute or so?"

He blinked, and then nodded his head, watching her mutter something under her breath.

"What is the-" He began to ask when Luna halted him with a raised hoof, causing him to raise an eyebrow.

"Why and _how_ did you bring me here?"

"What?" he blinked, surprised at this piece of information and accusation. " _I_ brought you here?" His eyes went wide. "How-" he paused, letting his mind try and catch up to form a more reasonable question. "How do you know I brought you here?"

The mare across him, whom he had just noticed was bare as any other pony, let out an annoyed huff of air for some reason before speaking to him again. "Because, _I_ know when somepony drags a mind into another's quite well. I have dealt with _alp_ and _mara_ before."

Artemis let out a bit of a shudder. _Alp_ and _mara_ were absolute terrors to deal with, and the one set of races that he was glad was dead.

"As have I, Luna," he let out a soft nicker, remembering the foals that had been threatened when dealing with those demons and those foals that he had been unable to save. But he forced himself to remember all those he _did_ save and all those that were that much safer with them dead. "But to the point at hoof, I do not know _how_ I brought you here or if I even _did_."

As soon as he finished speaking, both of their eyes darted around the dream realm, a question looming over their heads.

"Luna, is this my dream realm or yours?"

"I have no idea Artemis," Luna frowned, wondering how in Equuis this was possible. "While I am unsure of the exact answer, this does require some more information to form a better hypothesis to determine which dream realm this belongs to. Tell me, what has happened while we have been in the other's realm?"

* * *

Artemis chuckled deeply, enjoying what Luna did to that pompous unicorn. He _had_ to remember that trick for later; he might even get Solaris to shut up if he threatened to send him to the healers, or doctors as they were now called.

"I still cannot believe you did that to that fool Blueblood." Luna's laughs were wondrous, causing Artemis to relax more than he had in a very long time. "It was a work of art, although I do swear I had heard the line from _somewhere_..."

"Perhaps," Artemis smiled, wracking his mind for what he had seen it from. "I _do_ know I have seen two versions of the play, with the latter being _far_ more enjoyable…"

"Yes, I know exactly what you are talking about!" Luna pointed a hoof at him, poking his nose. Instead of shutting down as he normally would, Artemis just wrinkled his nose and smirked. "A thousand curses, as I cannot remember what it was!" She pouted, sitting back down. "Perhaps I will ask Twi- Dusk and his friends what it is…"

"Indeed…" He sighed, his mind tracing to back to early part of their conversation. "Do you have enough potion for another trip to… _our_ dream realm?"

Both of them were still unnerved by the fact that their own private dream realms had merged somehow, with neither pony able to influence it anymore. It had brought forth many implications, none of which Artemis, nor Luna by the looks of it, were completely comfortable with.

"Ye-yes, I did send Celestia to make enough for a few night travels," Luna answered, tracing a hoof across the floor. "But I assume that Twilight Sparkle and Dusk Shine will both wish to come and examine this pr-" His eyes went wide, the dreaded word on the tips of her mouth. "No, not problem…" she frowned, not noticing his sigh of relief. "Situation."

"Ye-yes," he stuttered, praying to Faust that his cheeks were not red. "I am sure that those two ponies will be able to bring a non-clouded mind to this situation, and hopefully explain everything."

He froze as his mind raced to the one possible situation that he was deathly afraid of. Looking across him, he saw the same fear on Luna's face.

He opened his mouth to say something comforting, but nothing came.

Luna placed a hoof on his shoulder, staring at him and forcing him to relax by her eyes alone.

"I do not know if it was because of _us_ that our older siblings acted the way they did, but tonight we will know." Faust, Luna's eyes were so sad now, terrified of that horrid possibility.

"Wh-" he squeaked out, trying to build up the confidence to ask the question neither wanted to hear or now. "What if-"

"We will not think of what-ifs Artemis," Luna said smoothly and firmly, causing him to look up at her with admiration. "We will deal with that possibility if and once it comes to be, understood?"

He nodded his head, and feeling a surge of confidence, he gave her a gentle nuzzling.

He was sure, everything was going to be just fi-


	13. Chapter Nine - Luna

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-07-24 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Nine - Luna**

Luna stared around the dream realm. She had not been dragged into a pony's mind in a very long time; only the elite unicorns could attempt to probe the minds of the ponies, and only _one_ unicon had enough of her trust to do so.

She turned her eyes to the one other moving object in the dream realm.

It was Artemis. Oh Faust, he was so… _mmm_.

She smiled, doing what she believed was called _boggling_ the stallion.

Luna's eyes traced over his figure; eying his strong legs with approval, licking her lips as she saw his beauti- er, _handsome_ ethereal mane dance elegantly in the non-existent wind, and his flanks… _mmm!_

The other alicorn spun around, his horn glowing and eyes wide! She let out a little meep; he must have heard her boggling him!

"Luna!" He was obviously surprised, but for some reason his was horn dimming. She let out a sigh of relief; he didn't care that she was boggling him!

"Artemis," she did her best to imitate her sister now, hoping that she appeared as serene as Celestia did. "It is wonderful to see you again, but I would like to ask you a dual question." She had to focus her mind on the matter at hoof though; how she was here and where _here_ was.

Mimicking her older sister, she tried to strut over to him, feeling ridiculous as she- Why was he backing up and _why_ did he just cause a torc to appear on his natural form? Had she done something wrong?

"Y-yes Luna?" Artemis's ears went back, the tips reddening as he blushed.

Luna giggled softly, her worries vanishing. She _was_ doing a good job! Huzzah!

"Did you recently fall asleep, as in the last minute or so?" She reigned in her mind, trying to figure out this little problem. Maybe, just maybe, they were -

Her heart raced at _that_ possibility!

Artemis blinked, and then nodded his head.

"What is the-" Artemis started to speak but Luna had to go on this strand of thought before she lost it. She halted him with a raised hoof, causing him to raise an eyebrow. He looked so cute when he did that!

"Why and _how_ did you bring me here?" She had to know, please let it be what she thought!

"What?" he blinked, surprised at this piece of information. Yes! " _I_ brought you here?" His eyes went wide, missing her obvious joy! "How-" he paused, his eyes settling back on her. She was lucky that she was able to have a more reasonable face on before he saw her excitement. "How do you know I brought you here?"

Luna let out an annoyed huff of air before speaking to him again, annoyed that he _clearly_ hadn't come to the same resolution as _she_ did. "Because, _I_ know when somepony drags a mind into another's quite well. I have dealt with _alp_ and _mara_ before."

Artemis let out a bit of a shudder, and for good reason. _Alp_ and _mara_ were true monsters to deal with, and the one set of races she was glad was extinct.

"As have I, Luna," he let out a soft nicker, probably remembering the harder cases that he'd had to deal with. She didn't wish to go over the memories of the past, content to leave them to the faded history books. "But to the point at hoof, I do not know _how_ I brought you here or if I even _did_."

At that word, both of their eyes darted around the dream realm, a question looming over their heads.

"Luna, is this my dream realm or yours?" The question snapped Luna's head back to Artemis as it was a bit of a concern to her now that she thought of it.

"I have no idea Artemis," Luna frowned, wondering how deep this connection between them was now. "While I am unsure of the exact answer, this does require some more information to form a better hypothesis to determine which dream realm this belongs to. Tell me, what has happened while we have been in the other's realm?"

* * *

Artemis wiped away a tear, clearly enjoying what Luna did to Bluebelle. He had been in stitches ever since she told him about that trick of hers. It was a fairly common practice; one that Tia had sadly used on her more than once…

"I still cannot believe you did that to that fool Blueblood," Luna laughed, seeing Artemis start to relax, which made her smile. "It was a work of art, although I do swear I had heard the line from _somewhere_..." It would drive her upwards the ceiling, as she believed it was called, until she figured it out.

"Perhaps," Artemis smiled, which made Luna's heart swoon. "I _do_ know I have seen two versions of the play, with the latter being _far_ more enjoyable…"

"Yes, I know exactly what you are talking about!" Luna pointed a hoof at him, poking his nose. She blushed at her silliness, a bit worried that Artemis would be uncomfortable with her touching him as she'd picked out he had some reservation about being touched in his tale of his time in her realm. He hadn't said it, but it was clearly there.

Instead of shutting her out, Artemis just wrinkled his nose and smirked at her. "A thousand curses, as I cannot remember what it was!" She pouted, sitting back down, relieved that she had not crossed a line with him. "Perhaps I will ask Twi- Dusk and his friends what it is…"

"Indeed…" He sighed. She desperately wished to know what he was worried about now, as she understood what it meant to carry burdens for so long. "Do you have enough potion for another trip to… _our_ dream realm?"

Artemis was a bit unnerved by the fact that their own private dream realms had merged. But what had _really_ worried them was that neither of them were able to influence it anymore. Their souls might be entwined now, and this brought forth many implications, none of which Luna, and clearly not Artemis, were comfortable with. What if Celestia and Solaris were to be put in this state if they were to meet again?

"Ye-yes, I did send Celestia to make enough for a few night travels," Luna answered, tracing a hoof across the floor, her heart starting to race. "But I assume that Twilight Sparkle and Dusk Shine will both wish to come and examine this pr-" Her eyes went wide, realizing she had nearly made a grave mistake. "No, not problem…" she frowned, seeing his sigh of relief. "'Situation'."

"Ye-yes," he stuttered, smiling at his cute little blush that was on his cheeks. "I am sure that those two ponies will be able to bring a non-clouded mind to this situation, and hopefully explain everything."

She froze as her mind raced to the one possible situation that she was deathly afraid of admitting. Looking across herself, Luna saw the same fear on Artemis's face.

He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out, clearly too troubled to say anything.

Luna placed a hoof on his shoulder, pleading silently with him to relax by her eyes alone. By Faust, was _she_ this bad too?

"I do not know if it was because of _us_ that our older siblings acted the way they did, but tonight we will know." Luna hoped that Artemis didn't see her worries or sadness, remembering how hard everything was now in this new world. Artemis was the sole pony that could understand that pain, and for the chance it was all false would be heart wrenching.

"Wh-" he squeaked out, trying to build up the confidence to ask that dreaded question. "What if-"

"We will not think of what-ifs Artemis," Luna said smoothly and firmly, forcing him to be at ease. Even if that was the cause, so be it! They would have each other, and she would have the one pony that would never cease loving her! "We will deal with that possibility if and once it comes to be, understood?"

He nodded his head, and to her surprise, he gave her a gentle nuzzling.

She was sure, everything was going to be just fi-


	14. Chapter Ten - Artemis

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-07-30 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Ten - Artemis**

Artemis yawned, stretching his neck. Pulling his hooves closer, he went over what he and Luna had talked about.

Or at least he tried; he was far too tired from pulling an all day workload before with Solaris, and he was nearing a second one in this realm if his sleep-addled mind was correct. If he didn't catch some proper sleep soon he would be a true mess, and he wouldn't be able to raise the mo-

With a jolt, he tried to leap out of whatever he was laying on to go fix that important duty of his!

Again, the key word was try. With a grunt and a meep, he smashed his forehead into something hard, rolled off the object he was lying on and landed on his tail. Using his right hoof to rub his head, and his left hoof to hold the very soft pillow to his chest, he tried to sit upright and open his tired eyes.

What he saw was a dark purple clump of something with a horn sticking out-

SWEET FAUST IT'S DUSK SHINE'S SHE-SELF!

With a yelp, Artemis threw the pony off himself before he could think better of it. He tried to catch the poor mare with his magic but a familiar glow caught her before she hit the wall.

"I suppose it was lucky of me to check up on you two when I did," a soft, compassionate voice chided him, gently placing the very startled mare on the floor. "Although, I am surprised, Twilight, that you yelped; I thought you made a plan to let Artemis know about this whole thing quietly."

The alicorn huffed, shaking her mane that was clearly caked in dried drool. "It wasn't _me_ , Princess!" She glared at him, causing Artemis to fold inwards.

"A thousand apologies, dear Twilight! We art most ashamed of our horrendous behaviour and-"

His panicked rambling was cut off when Celestia placed a hoof on his lips. His eyes slowly focused on it, the hammering of his heart fading away from his ears. Those ears fell to the side of his head and he felt himself blush at how he had been acting. He had not slipped into the old tongue for a very long time and it was embarrassing to do so now.

Celestia kept her hoof on his mouth, most likely waiting until he had calmed down further. He forced himself to slow his breathing to a more reasonable pace and tried to force his hindlegs out from under himself so he could get into a more appropriate sitting position.

She then placed a hoof on his shoulder as if to steady him, and he tried not to flinch from the touch. Too much, at least. Eying the balcony, he knew he was still too exhausted to rush over there. His heart raced again, the panic returning.

"-id leave, Twilight, this is not up for debate."

"Okay Prin- Celestia," the mare whined slightly, walking out of the room and closing the door behind her with a click.

"Now that we are alone, will _you_ be okay, Prince Artemis?" She sounded concerned, very concerned.

Artemis gave a weak nod, his panic starting to ebb away again, but very slowly this time. He closed his eyes, forcing himself to remember that it was not the past, it was going to be okay, he was okay-

"G-good," Celestia said hesitantly. Artemis opened his eyes to see a hoof reaching out to pull him into an embrace. "I-"

"D-don't," Artemis squeaked out, scooting backwards. "Please, leave Us be for the moment."

Celestia licked her lips in concern, turning her head to the side. "The bathroom is over-"

"Th-thank thee." Artemis stuttered, trying his hardest not to remember that night as he ran into the bathroom. Not now, not here.

Not ever.

He splashed some cold water on his face, trying to gain some control over himself. He had to remind himself of how much he had progressed in the past, that it would certainly _not_ happen again. Not in this time and day and certainly _not_ with his brother's prized student and close friend.

He blinked at his reflection before sighing.

It was Celestia and _her_ precious student, although it finally dawned on him to _why_ he was able to be with Celestia before without falling to pieces. He snickered, wondering how she might take it if she learned that he saw her as his br-

"Feeling better Prince Artemis?" Celestia looked at him from the doorway, still very concerned.

"Yes Celestia," he nodded his head, feeling in control once more. "And no, I do not wish to ' _talk_ ' about it."

He watched her react to that. Normally, he would expect her to nod like Solaris did, not giving him any real indication on his thought of the matter.

Instead, she bit her lip, nodding her head slightly as she muttered "Okay."

It seemed that both of their masks were gone at the moment…

"Thank you for understanding," he muttered softly, moving back into what he quickly realized was Luna's bedroom, judging by the organized piles of paper throughout the room that were similar to his own chambers back in his realm.

…Which meant he had been sleeping in Luna's bed with a ma- Twil- _the female version of his brother's student!_ He nearly became as red as that farmer mare from the Apple clan, his embarrassment and panic nearly sending him to floor before he stomped down on it firmly.

Celestia coughed, eying the floor, clearly wishing to ask _exactly_ what the issue was, but was restraining herself and trying to find something else to talk about. "I-I take it that you spoke to Luna when you fell asleep. Do you have any information to share?"

Artemis sighed, dreading this as his mind pulled out the horrid possibility that both of them had come to in their dream realm. One that would just crush him, but… seemed in par with everything in his life. "Luna," he pawed at the ground, trying to find the courage to say _it_. "Is for the most part fine. She did not suffer anything like I did here…"

"What's wrong, Artemis?" It was short and to the point, Celestia clearly picking up his sudden sadness.

"We came to a possible hypothesis to why you and my brother acted as you did…" He needed to get it out now, otherwise he would never have the courage to do so again. He hated feeling like this, being so unsure of everything. "It is our belief that due to being in our dream realm, it might have influenced you two into acting in the setting of how the dream realm was set by the dreamer. As neither Luna nor I have been with another and finding another like us, it might have caused our minds to react by sending out chemicals for lust for the other. It is why we request to have Twilight Sparkle and Dusk Shine with us when we meet tonight, as they are both the alicorns of magic and-"

"Very undereducated in the social aspects of another pony." Celestia finished with a sad tone.

Oh Faust _no_. This would be truly devastating if her precious student acted like _she_ did last night.

"Yes," Artemis folded inwards, sitting down on the floor. "We are aware of how wrong it is to use a pony like that, but-"

"I understand completely." She bit her lip, hoping that this was _not_ the reason why she'd kissed Solaris. That would be too cruel for everypony if it were true, as she knew _exactly_ what it would mean for her sister and this poor pony next to her. "I truly hope it was because I was a damn lusty fool of a mare that couldn't keep her hooves to herself rather than _that_ ," she muttered softly, nearly to tears.

"As wrong as it is, I hope so too, Celestia." He looked at her sadly, seeing that she'd sat down across from him. "To hurt a mare, _anypony_ , like that would be truly monstrous." Oh Faust, _why_ were all the kind, loving, and tender stallions taken? Even with the possibility that their feelings for each other were false, he _still_ wished to protect her sister and didn't even _think_ of his own happiness. "Although it would be par the course for somepony of _my_ pa-"

Celestia surprised him by pulling him into a tight, compassionate hug. "Arty, I have seen so few stallions that would care for a mare they _knew_ they loved as much as you did for a mare you _might_ love."

Artemis felt the tension drop out of his body, thinking of how long ago Solaris would do the same for him, holding him close and easing his worries. "I do not know what the case may be, but I have a strong feeling that this is nothing but true feelings for each other."

Artemis gulped, and then nodded his head, burying himself into her bulk. "I-We need to know." He let out a small sob, still worried that everything was just him being so hopeful for a chance to be with a mare that he was faking these feelings for Luna without even knowing it. She deserved better than that.

She deserved better than him.

"I know," Celestia leaned down to give him a gentle peck on the forehead, but stopped herself from treating Artemis like she would any other pony. He was special to Luna, and thus special to her. So instead, she gave him a gentle nuzzle and rubbed his back _very_ softly. "I know."

Disengaging herself from the stallion and standing on her long legs, she gave him a sad nod, torn up about how much doubt he had in himself and that horrid possibility. The realization that Luna was more than likely was feeling the same nearly knocked her legs out from under her.

"I will go inform Twilight about our plan, to see if she and Dusk Shine can lend any insight to why you have switched places with Luna." She made it clear to Artemis that she would _not_ tell her former precious student about the second reason why they were to be there. It had be done without any possible chances of outside influence beforehoof, to truly see what the truth was. "Please, take all the time you need to clean up."

Artemis gave her a weak nod, eying the bathroom. "A shower _does_ sound good…" He gave her a small laugh, and trotted off to the washroom.

Celestia chuckled at that, waiting until the door to the bathroom closed before leaving her sister's room, closing the door with a click.


	15. Chapter Ten - Luna

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-07-30 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Ten - Luna**

Luna yawned a bit, shaking herself awake. She was a bit put off that something forced her to be awake, but what have you. What was done was done.

She arched her back, shaking herself like a cat. She was dimly aware that she was back in Artemis's bedroom, and was previously tucked into his cloud bed, the blanket half on the floor. She almost smiled at the scene, to be in the bed of a pony that cared for her was a secret desire of hers, one that even Celestia did not know.

But the weight of what they feared stole any joy from her. It would be just like _every time_ for her now; anytime she thought she found somepony that loved her would be proven false. Sombra had used her in his attempts to gain more power, Celestia claimed she loved her-

No, she would _not_ go down that path again. Not now, not ever again. She did not wish to do anything that could bring _Her_ back.

She shuddered at the thought of her darkest time, as Ni-Nigh-

She bit her lip, unable to say the name even in her head. She had gotten better at dealing with _Her_ , but the thought of having _Artemis_ , a pony like _her_ , not _really_ caring for her was just….

She bit her lip, curled up sobbing for who knows how long until she felt a hoof rub her back.

She leaned into the pony, crying into his form.

"There there Luna, let it out," Solaris's calm, caring voice soothed her. There was no judgment, no falsehoods. "Just let it out."

She sobbed harder, feeling so angry, so cheated by everything.

"Why- _why_ is it it always me?"

"Hush." Solaris tried to comfort her, but the mare was too far gone to notice this.

" _Whenever_ I find somepony, why cannot I just have him?" She stared at the alicorn who looked so confused. "Why must I be always so alone?"

"Luna, what _ever_ do you mean?"

"Artemis, I, we-" She pulled in closer, crying harder saying his name. "We might think that we art the cause for thee dalliance with thine sister."

"Luna…" Solaris pulled back, looking shocked, hurt and confused.

"Nay, it would make the most sense," Luna whimpered, "After all, who would ever wish to love me?"

"Luna, don't say that," Solaris pulled her close to him, nuzzling her with tears running down his own face. "Never say that. I know my brother, and his actions means he _cares_ for you."

"Solaris, we might know the reason why that you acted as you did," Luna, stared upwards at the pony, still not ready to believe him. "We fear that it was our own _selfish_ desire to have somepony that caused us to meet and fool ourselves that somepony actually _lo-_ "

"Luna. **Stop**." It was the sharp tone that forced Luna to meet his eyes. It was filled with steel and compassion, something that she often saw in Celestia when she tried to talk to her. "I _know_ my little brother. I am _not_ my nephew Bolero. I am not the alicorn of love, but I can _tell_ he does care for you."

"But… what if it is because of _me_?" She broke the eye contact, pawing the bed. "What if this is all because of me?"

She could hear him breathe sharply, and then felt his wings around her frame.

"Sweet Faust, Luna, I don't know what happened to make you so unsure of yourself, but you must believe me, I don't think for a moment this thing you and my little brother have is fake."

"But-"

"Luna, I am going to tell you the _exact_ same thing my mother told me a long time ago; butts are for sitting." The solar alicorn chuckled, brushing away some of her mane. She pouted at his foolishness, but at the same time was feeling a bit better. "Even if it _was_ based on falsehoods, which I seriously doubt, I don't see why it cannot become _true_."

Luna blinked, startled by this. It had never occurred to her that even if Artemis only cared for her because her mind had tricked him in the beginning, they still could _actually_ make something that was real now!

She might have somepony that lo-

"Feeling better now?" Solaris smiled gently, sitting down on the bed. Luna let out a tiny meep as she fell close to the stallion. She found his hooves around her stomach, lifting her upright.

"Ye-yes, I am," she smiled back, feeling better, almost like when she first meet Artemis. "Thank thee- you," she rubbed her face, trying to rid herself of her sorry appearance. "I do believe your words to some degree but-"

"You need to know, right?" Solaris smiled gently again, lifting himself off the bed, keeping his eyes on her.

"Indeed," She pulled her hind legs inwards, wrapping her wings around them. She stole a look at Solaris, who was already looking concerned for her again and gave him an easy smile. "Artemis and I are sure that your student and my sister's can unravel the why Artemis and I were able to meet and switched places, as well as…"

"See if Dusky and this Twily try to rut each other or not?" Solaris smirked at her sudden blush, her ears darting upwards and then backwards, becoming flush to her head.

"Um, I, er..." Luna stammered, trying to get the mental image out of her mind; her best friend getting bent over and having a lavender stallion place his hooves on her flanks. He would lean over her, his mouth tracing over her twitching ear, all the while gently caressing her flanks-

"Luna?" Solaris's voice broke her out of that strain of thought, thank Faust. "I am sorry if I made you uncomfortable or something or-" He was starting to yank on his beard, looking very worried.

"While crude, that _is_ the secondary reason for why we wish to have the alicorn of magic with us, as wrong as it is to use our friends like that."

"Luna, let me be crude once more, but buck _that_." Solaris rolled his eyes, letting out a small grunt. "On one hoof, they may share a strong desire to _research_ each other," he shared the chuckle with her, smiling now. "On the other hoof, they might not feel anything and-"

He gulped and bit his lip, watching Luna's eyes dart downwards.

"In _any_ case, Luna, I know that Dusky, and I am going to guess the same with Twily, will _understand_ that you two needed to know and that tricking them was required."

"It is still deceitful…"

"Luna, my friend," Solaris leaned down to nuzzle her head, having a sad smile on his face. "You must have faith in your friends that will understand when you lie to them, there _is_ a reason for it." He gave her a pat on the head, which caused her to grumble and try to swat away his hooves. "You just need to make sure it is for a _good_ reason."

"Yes, I know," Luna huffed, smiling fondly at Solaris. He truly did have a good heart… but Artemis was the only one for her, even if it was based on a falsehood. She yawned, shaking herself a bit more awake. "My, what _time_ is it?"

"A few hours before I need to set my sun…" Solaris's eyes went wide as he began to think of something no pony had paid much thought to.

"Solaris, I do believe _I_ can do the task of raising Artemis's moon. After all, I _do_ have a great amount of experience." She lifted her head proudly, shaking her mane. She then pulled out her mane and stared at it. "After I wash up, though."

"Sounds like a plan, Luna," he chuckled a bit, moving towards the door to give her some privacy despite the obviousness that his lax country approach to clothing meant he would not be seeing anything new. "I assume that tonight Dusk Shine, you and I will meet my brother, Twilight and…" He bit his lip, halfway out of the door, freezing in remembering a certain mare.

"Yes Solaris, I do assume Celestia will be there," she called out from the bathroom, poking her head out. "And I do believe that if she is able to keep her hooves to herself this time, everything will be ju-"

"Hey now, I was there too, missy," Solaris called out, standing in the doorway, frowning playfully. "As the phrase is in my land, and I am _sure_ it is for yours as well, we stallions tend to think more with our smaller heads than with our bigger ones."

Luna just chuckled and blushed at him, throwing some pillows at his white bulk as he left the room, closing the door with a click.


	16. Chapter Eleven - Artemis

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-08-22 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Eleven - Artemis**

Celestia sighed outwardly as she closed the door behind her, listening for the sound of water from the shower before opening her eyes.

Blinking, she saw the faces of her former student, and her friends, staring up at her with concern.

Celestia _tried_ to pull on her Princess face, hide behind that mask and let them know everything was okay-

"Is everything okay, Princess- uh- Celestia?" Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulder, making Celestia mentally drop the mask completely for the first time in a very long time.

"Yes and no, Twilight." She slumped forwards a bit, some of the properness still etched into her being prevented her from lowering her head down anymore. "Artemis _is_ feeling better now, and he and my sister have requested that you accompany us to their private dream realm. They feel that you and Prince Dusk Shine can figure out this…" Celestia bit her lip, still trying to figure out the right way to call this whole thing. Saying it was a problem put it in a negative light, but she didn't know of any way to better say this.

"Are _you_ okay Pri-Celestia?" Twilight frowned at her, very obviously worried. "You're not acting like as you normally do…"

"Twilight, my little ponies," Celestia ushered them away from the doorway and into the private foyer. "I don't doubt you remember what Artemis said about having different appearances in public due to politics than in private and not hiding yourselves in front of those you care deeply for?" She watched them nod in agreement, letting out a soft sigh. "It is a _very_ valid lesson to take to heart, one that I am still learning how to do after such a _long_ time."

It was Rarity that picked up on how she said the word _long_. "Yo-you mean since you had to b-banish Princess Luna, Princess Celestia?"

Celestia picked up the tea prepared for her just in case she was in this room, and drank for a long time before speaking, "Yes." It was so hard to let go of that mask, but if anypony deserved to know why she had it, it would be the ponies that had brought her sister back to her. "The day after I banished my sister to her moon, I was found crying by several of my ponies." Celestia gripped her teacup tighter as she braced herself for when she had nearly lost the ability to love her ponies anymore.

"They believed I was greatly injured from my fight with Nightmare Moon." She heard the sharp intake of air from nearly all of the ponies around her, unable to meet their faces about that horrid time. "It did not occur to them that I was mourning the terrible actions that I did to my sister and that she was gone from my side for the first time since I could remember; they were already in the processes of having a grand celebration of my victory over _Her_."

She bit her lip, tears threatening to fall from her face. A thousand years of keeping her emotions at bay was probably the only reason why they stayed away this time. "I was so close to ordering them to halt that horrid celebration, to cease their inflammations of effigies of my dear sister, to halt their cheers and foul curses they wert giving to mine sister's moon and name." The cup was shaking in her hooves, her voice breaking and travelling back a thousand years ago. "'Twas but just neigh before We were to give them command to cease when We saw Our little ponies truly be at ease for the first time since mine war with Nightmare Moon."

The teacup fell onto the floor as she held her face in her hooves, crying at her greatest moments of weakness. "We, _I_ couldn't take that away from them. I _couldn't_." She felt somepony rub her back as she spoke, leaning into the pony for comfort. "So, I allowed them to have their fun, and that required me _not_ to show my sadness, to be the perfect princess for them as the nation began to heal." That was one of the hardest decisions she had ever had to make, and one that had haunted her dreams ever since, not counting when she dreamt of the night she was forced to banish her sister away for a thousand years or the dreams that altered the events for the worse.

"It was a few weeks after that I ordered the capital to be moved, I just could _not_ stay in those halls after what I allowed to happen atop of all those good memories I had with Luna," she cried openly for the first time in a long time, not letting out small simple tears as she did in the past. "I failed her twice there; failed to take her seriously when she needed me the most, and failed to be strong enough to protect her once she was gone." She hated herself for letting that happen, regretting it every night she had to raise her sister's moon, to see the prison that her sister was trapped in by her own hooves, and not being able to show any emotion in case her ponies saw and questioned her. "Only recently, _just_ recently, have I begun to let down those shields, stop _being_ the perfect princess everypony needed me to be, and start being the mare I was before again."

"And this entire ordeal with Prince Artemis and Princess Luna is causing you to act unlike the self you are used to being. Because you don't know _how_ to act in a situation this intimate with somepony that means as much to you as Princess Luna." Rarity dabbed her eyes with a hoofkerchief and offered the alabaster mare one as well.

"Indeed, my little pony." Celestia took the offered cloth and dabbed her own eyes, forcing herself to stop her silliness- Her eyes went wide she as she felt herself being hugged. Looking around, she saw all six of them hugging her. Celestia let more of those shields down and allowed the warmth she had denied herself for so long to seep inwards. There was a period of time that Celestia was unable to recall exactly how much time had passed, as she was being hugged, during which she was able to reform her mask of control. She smiled inwards, surely her little ponies would be beside themselves with worry if they learned that she lost the ability to keep track of time. "Thank you, my little ponies. I truly needed that." She smiled, truly smiled at these special six ponies around her.

"Think nothin' of it, ma'am," Applejack smiled at her, wiping away a tear. "Ain't nothin' Ah won't do for a friend."

"Yuppers!" Pinkie Pie smiled at her, beaming with joy and bouncing on the spot. "We won't leave until everything is okie doki loki again!"

"Indeed," Rarity nodded her agreement, with Dash's grin and Fluttershy's smile telling her of their resolve. "I am sure that Sweetie Belle can stay with her friends until we can get this all this sorted out."

"Absolutely Princess!" Twilight said with such eagerness that instantly made her think of when the mare was a simple foal. "In fact, I think I remember doing some reading on the properties on dream realms and with you girls' help, I am sure we can find _some_ reason why Princess Luna and Prince Artemis switched places!"

Celestia saw a flicker of annoyance at being roped into doing some heavy research, but they all quickly nodded their heads in agreement.

"What's going on now?" Celestia turned her head with the rest of the mares to see a certain stallion standing in the doorway. His mane and coat were still a bit wet, dripping onto the floor, but he had the torc that Rarity had made on him. He was biting back a yawn, clearly still tired. It seemed that his little nap hadn't done enough to recharge his batteries.

Then again, Luna always slept longer when she was dreamwalking as her mind needed to rest at some point; Artemis should be no different.

"Nothing, Prince Artemis, we were just about to go to the archives to do some research on dream… magic..." Twilight's eyes grew wider as she made the connections that were causing the stallion to back up in fear.

"Hey, ain't ya'll 'n expert in dream magic?" Applejack asked, not picking up on Prince Artemis's fear-entrenched stance.

"Verily, but I-"

"GREAT!" Twilight smile grew, nearing the same length and size of the other earth pony in the room. "This will help out _greatly!_ "

Prince Artemis barely had a chance to react when the hooves grabbed him, dragging him out to the library, shooting Celestia a pleading face for help before he was gone from the room.

Celestia was able to keep her face composed long enough for them to leave before breaking out in laughter. She had not seen a face like that for a long time, on both Artemis _and_ Twilight.

She knew that the poor stallion would be in for the long haul and she pitied him greatly, but she was in no desire to get stuck in that stuffy room again. Smiling, she fixed herself another cup of tea and went off to see what Spike was making for supper.

* * *

"Twi,- ' _yaaaaaaaaawn_ '," that was the fourth time he had yawned, as some of the mares were counting. "I have told you all that I know at least twice over by now," he was rubbing his eyes, waiting for the Magma Grade Coffee he had ordered to come by. "'Tis the first time that an event of this sort has occurred and I truly know not the cause."

"There must be _something_!" Twilight shouted, causing the rest of the mares to wince, and earning a loud _SHHH_ from the librarian that had been eying the group ever since Pinkie Pie had decided to help out by getting all the books on dream magic and realms at once. In her defense, she _hadn't_ made a sound but it was still _very_ obvious why the librarian was close to ordering a permanent ban on the party pony from ever stepping a hoof back in there after what she did to get them all.

As such, Dash was being very well-behaved now, reading her Daring Do book after Twilight had actually subtly told her friends that she could take charge of the research and that it was wrong of her to volunteer them like that. Applejack had her nose buried in some books and records concerning how she could both improve on the farm with different techniques and the actual legal standing of the land that her family owned after some prompting by the stallion to do so. Pinkie Pie was reading some books on cooking, baking, and whatever she could lay her hooves on. Rarity was going over the records of the different fashions in the past and in different places, copying down ideas in her own little notebook. Fluttershy was reading from a few books concerning the more exotic animals in the Everfree Forest and how to care for them.

And Twilight had the formation of a book fortress in the works, both with countless books on the subject matter and scrolls having nearly everything that Artemis knew about dream realms and dream magic written down around her. Probably the only reason that Twilight hadn't _actually_ created her famous fortress was because the librarian had told her that one more time and, Princess or not, she would be placed on the dreaded banned for life list.

Artemis himself had one large book standing upright, nose buried into it, eyes flicking upwards towards Twilight and the setting sun. He sighed, muttering a curse under his breath which caused the mares to recoil a bit, and rubbed his eyes. "I do not know what else to tell; you have more or less probed my mind for all its wealth."

"Well darling, what was that you told us about two minds sharing a dream?" Rarity asked, causing the mares to look up at the suddenly blushing stallion.

"As I have said, two soul mates _could_ share a dream but it does not make any sense as I have never seen anything more than their subconsciousness reaching out to each other when asleep."

"Well, maybe it's 'cause ya'll are a bit more learned in dream magic that caused you two to meet?" Applejack said, looking up from her books, noticing how wide the eyes of the stallion became at _that_ , with a smirk on her face now. Rarity, on the other hoof, had a _very_ predatory grin on her face.

"Maybe… but it would not explain how we were able to meet the day before all of the sudden." He rubbed his chin, eyelids very heavy, and turned his head to see a pony entering the library with a cup that literally seemed to be smoking with a magical glow around it. "Ah thank Faust, some wondrous coffee at long last!" He took the cup in his bare hooves, thanking the servant who was staring at him with wide eyes as he held it close to his mouth. Artemis proceeded to take a long sip, shaking himself awake a bit. He let out a contented sigh, which caused a few of the mares to giggle.

"Maybe I should go over that book while you have your coffee." Twilight offered, lifting the thick tome before Artemis could protest. Instantly the other mares could see why as a small book fell out of it.

"Is that _Daring Do and the Quest for the Golden Sword_?" Twilight's eye twitched, shocked that somepony would actually _slack off_ when doing research!

"Um…"

"Did ya get to the part where Daring Do finds out that Check Mark was faking to change sides? That was so cool, I totally didn't see it coming!" Rainbow Dash grinned, eager to talk to another fan of the book.

"Well, nor I until _now_ ," Artemis huffed, closing the book with an annoyed glare. " _Thanks_ for spoiling the surprise portion of this grand tale."

"Sorry 'bout that, Arty," Dash blushed, rubbing the back of her head. "Say, what are the books called over there?"

"Dashing Dare," Artemis picked up the book again, looking over it. "I must say that the slight changes really do- Oh please Twilight, stop _glaring_ at me. I have told you everything I know and was taught by Starswirl the Bearded. There is _simply_ nothi-"

"Wait, there was a Starswirl the Bearded in _your_ world too?" Twilight leaned over the table, nearly bumping the coffee mug over. Artemis grabbed it in his magic aura, protecting it close to his chest. He then frowned, thinking over what she had said.

"That's weird, if he were to have the same gender when all others have been switched so far…" He tapped his chin, taking a long sip of his coffee. He sighed, and looked straight at the librarian turned princess. "Twilight, I truly do not know more. Part of the problem is that I have had years of thinking of one way, perhaps I _am_ missing something from how I think. That is why I wish for you to accompany us tonight, as both yours and Prince Dusk Shine's special talents are Magic itself. With your youth, you might find the cause to why Luna and I are in the other's realm." He yawned again and placed his head on the desk, feeling very tired despite that the amount of caffeine in the mug he was drinking could put Pinkie Pie on a near permanent sugar rush.

He nearly jumped when he felt a hoof pat him on the back, cracking an eye open to see Twilight standing over him.

"There, there, I am sure everything will be okay, and I am sure we'll have everypony back where they are suppose to be!" Twilight smiled. "Don't you worry!"

"Yuppers!" Pinkie Pie bounced over, arms opening wide for a hug. "Gr-"

"As much as that sounds nice Pinkie Pie, I do believe it's nearly time for the moon to be raised." He quickly backed away, taking a final sip of his coffee before trotting off with the mares around the table following him out. Twilight was the last to leave, putting away all the books and grabbing all her notes.

* * *

"Ah, greetings, Prince Artemis, my little ponies." Celestia smiled from the Celestial Balcony, a place where Celestia or Luna could raise their celestial bodies together as opposed to their private balconies. "Have you any luck finding out as to why Prince Artemis and Princess Luna have switched places?"

"Sorry, Princess," Twilight's eyes fell to the floor, ashamed that she failed her former mentor in this very important task. "We couldn't find any-"

"Twilight, you need not apologize, for you have not failed anything within your control." Artemis placed his mug on the railing, eyeing the lavender alicorn with a frown. "This is a first of its kind, and to expect anypony to correctly guess why it is so would be simply ludicrous."

"I guess…" Twilight pouted, but she still flashed a smile towards the stallion.

"Would I be correct to assume you are here to raise the moon, Prince Artemis?" Celestia smiled softly, curious to see _his_ take on the night sky.

"Indeed, Celestia," Artemis responded, flapping his wings to warm them up and frowned as he noticed a feather out of place in his left wing. "Once you have set your sun, I shall raise Luna's moon." His horn glowed, fixing the misplaced feather with mild success.

Celestia snickered, as it was cute to see him struggle to fix the feather without his mouth. But she guessed that he wouldn't do something as private as preening in public. Shaking her head, she flapped her wings and threw herself into the sky, gathering her alicorn magic to push her heavenly body downwards, to set it on its path for the other side of the world. It was simple enough for her to do, in fact she was almost certain she could do it in her sleep by this point with the centuries of practice she'd had.

Landing back on the balcony, she flashed her eyes towards the awed group, with Twilight's eyes wide at seeing her magic at work. Artemis had a small frown on his face, as if in deep thought.

She lowered her head for a moment, signaling Artemis it was his turn to fly.

Flapping his wings, his eyes glowed white with alicorn magic as he began to lift her sister's moon, while the stars started to flash into existence from one end of the horizon to the other end behind the heavenly body. It was stunning to see, watching the stars that Luna usually brought in by their constellations come to life in this fashion.

With a light thud and, Artemis landed back on the balcony, eyes still fluttering with exhaustion. Celestia frowned; she might be the only pony to notice this and regardless of how things played out tonight, she was going to make sure that this stallion slept properly no matter where he was after this.

"That was breathtaking to watch," Rarity said as she stepped closer to the blinking stallion, who flared his wings in surprise. She was clearly in awe, with the rest of ponies around her staring slack-jawed up at the night sky he'd brought in. "It was like the blackness of the night sky was being chased away, with the moon leading the charge." Rarity ruffled herself upwards, biting her lip as she took another step closer to the nervously blushing alicorn that was quickly finding his tail pressed against the railing.

"Whoa there, sugarcube," Applejack placed a hoof on her shoulder, stopping the white unicorn in her tracks. " _This_ Prince is taken, remember?" She grinned, elbowing her friend. Rarity blushed, trying to hide behind her mane like a certain pegasus mare. Rainbow Dash started to laugh, which was quickly caught up by everypony on the balcony.

"Well, I was told by my nephew Bolero that some of the mares _did_ favour my Night…" Artemis tapped his chin.

"I can see _why_ , Prince Artemis," Celestia chuckled a bit, tapping Artemis forwards with her wing. "Ladies, if you will excuse us, I think it is time for us to meet Luna, Prince Dusk Shine, and," Celestia paused, biting her lip to prepare herself to say _that_ name. "Prince Solaris, as I think a certain pony is nearly falling asleep on his hooves."

"I am _not_ that tired, Celestia," he frowned, pouting a bit as his wings twitched and sagged, incriminating himself. "I am far-"

"You have been running on fumes and been drinking the strongest blend of coffee to _try_ and stay awake," Celestia frowned, poking his nose as he stumbled a bit. "Even if we cannot get you back where you belong tonight, _tomorrow_ you are going to sleep _without_ going into your dream realm. Agreed?"

He huffed, shaking his mane and let out an annoyed yawn. "Very well, Celestia," he said, shaking his mane again. "I suppose I _was_ overtaxing myself a bit."

"We _all_ need time to rest and recoup ourselves." Celestia smiled, ushering the stallion and mares into the hallway. "Girls; Twilight, Artemis and I shall go speak with the others. I insist you go ahead and eat; we shall meet up with you once we are done." She turned her head back to the stallion. "And _you_ shall sleep."

"You made your point Celestia," Artemis grumbled as he walked through the crowd of giggling mares. "Let it _go_."

"Just making sure as I know my sister is a bit stubborn at times, and-"

"Yes, yes," Artemis spinned on his hooves and faced Celestia. "I believe it is, 'cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye'," Artemis did all the motions correctly, glaring at her. "I promise that I _will_ get to sleep after this meeting is done."

"Good enough for me!" Pinkie Pie smiled and bounced her way out of the hallway and towards the dining room.

"Come, Twilight, I think we should move quickly if we are to get any of Spike's cooking." Celestia giggled, licking her lips. It felt wonderful to let her mane down, as it were. "I will be sure to save you some, Artemis."

"Thank you, Celestia," Artemis blushed as he heard his stomach rumble. "Barbs is an excellent cook, and her pancakes are _divine_ …" He smiled, licking his lips.

"I strongly doubt that, as I have eaten Spike's pancakes before and I have been unable to meet _anypony's_ pancakes that were as good as his," Celestia teased as they entered Luna's bedroom.

Once inside, she lifted the vial up from the nightstand and shook it, hearing a tiny splash from within. Only enough for two tonight, and then she would need to go out and get more if this were to be a common occurrence.

"So how does this work, Celestia?" Twilight looked at her with the same eager eyes that she'd seen when the mare was just a small filly. "Is it a spell or a poti-"

"Twilight, what _ever_ are you asking me for?" Celestia smiled gently, causing the new alicorn to blush and the stallion to nod slightly. Twilight _still_ had a long way to go it seemed, and part of the problem was her own fault in how she'd taught the mare.

"Sorry, Prince Artemis…" Twilight rubbed her hooves against each other, looking at the floor instead of the stallion. "I just, I mean, I didn't _mean_ to-"

"It's okay, Twilight," Artemis lied, patting her on the shoulder. "I know that Dusk Shine is deeply enthralled by my brother, and it would make sense that you are the same to Celestia."

"HEY!" Twilight blushed and pointed a hoof at him. Artemis ducked away from the hoof and moved to get onto the bed. "I am _not_ enthralled by Celestia!"

Celestia clicked her tongue, holding back her laughter as she saw Artemis roll his eyes. She placed a mental note that Artemis didn't remove the torc from his chest, despite knowing how uncomfortable it must be, and it was to be examined later.

"In any case Twilight, it is simple enough," Artemis yawned, resting his head on the pillow. "You and Celestia will need take some of the potion in your hooves and let out a strand of your own mental magic." He blinked and turned his head towards Twilight who was standing beside the bed. "You need to focus your mind on a single point and let your magic surround that point and push _outwards_." It was the laypony term, but Celestia hoped that it would be enough for Twilight to do tonight.

Twilight frowned in focus, and a short period of time later, a feeble magic strand floated out of her horn.

"Like this?" she panted, swaying on her hooves.

"Ye-yes," Artemis's eyes went wide, before lighting his own horn and lifting the mare onto the bed. "It took Cel-I mean, Solaris and I a long time before we could get the fundamentals of this down, but you have managed to get out a strand out on your first try." He licked his lips and darted his eyes to the other side as Celestia lay down next to him, causing the bed to dip a bit. "Truly, you are the alicorn of magic…"

"Than-thank you," Twilight stuttered, more than likely as suffering from the strain of using her magic in this fashion for the first time. "So, what now?"

"Here Twilight, drink." Celestia took a small sip of the potion, her own glowing as she let out her own magic strand with Artemis's flying above it, waiting to grab them. "Once you drink, you will become tired, and yet retain your full mental faculties. Prince Artemis will then take our magic strands and place them inside his own mind so we can visit his dream realm."

"Okay Pr-Celestia," Twilight smiled, taking her own sip of the potion, finishing it off. "I would love to know more about thi-this…" She yawned, watching her strand of magic and Celestia's being gently lifted by Artemis and brought into his own mind.

With a loud yawn, Artemis pulled them and himself into his dream realm.

* * *

Blinking, Celestia found herself in the same dream realm that she was in last night. Turning her head to the side, she saw that Artemis had already seen her sister, walking over to her and blushing horribly. As was her sister, looking at Artemis with hopeful eyes. It was truly adorable, and she was resisting every urge she had to tease her little sister. In front of her was _him_ , and she was in no mood to even go there.

Turning her head to the other side, she saw Twilight had walked up to this Dusk Shine, who was doing the same, and then everything became silent.

Both of them opened their mouths, and then they would know the answer.


	17. Chapter Eleven - Luna

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-08-22 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Eleven - Luna**

Solaris was still chuckling to himself when he closed the door to Arty's, _Artemis's_ room. He might have four left hooves when it came to dealing with intimate problems like this, but every once in a while he danced flawlessly and everypony was okay at the end.

While he might _not_ be his pink nephew, and while there were _not_ a lot of mares around, he was still fairly adept at cheering up mares in the bedroom.

"Prince Solaris?" Steel Barricade's voice broke him out of his trance, the captain of his guards staring at him.

Coming out of the room where Luna was sleeping.

Seeing him coming out the room smiling and chuckling.

Oh buck.

"Do not worry, my little pony, nothing happened." Solaris smiled softly, hoping that she would believe him despite how bad it seemed. She raised an eyebrow at him, which meant she didn't believe him.

"I merely went to see if Luna had woken up yet, and did my best to comfort her… as she was a bit depressed over some issues."

"Oh?" The mare raised her other eyebrow, while stepping closer.

"Yes," he waved a wing, gesturing her to follow. He frowned as he walked away from the doorway, then paused and turned around, walking back past Steel Barricade to poke his head into the doorway again. "Luna, I shall be in the private foyer, okay?"

"Thank thee! Now let us shower in peace!" Luna shouted back, with an annoyed grunt in her voice.

Chuckling again, Solaris closed the door and nearly walked into Barricade. He blinked, then met her frown with his own.

"Allow me to explain, Barri." He walked past the shocked mare, with her numbly following him. He reserved calling her that nickname for only when things were truly serious; either that centaur breaking out of her chains and escaping from Tartarus or dealing with several reporters that didn't know Artemis's privacy was to be respected at all costs. The earth pony did her job well, working with Gleaming Shield to send those ponies packing before they found Arty's fortress of clothes in his closet.

The times when he had found the blue alicorn curled up tight underneath were always adorable until he remembered _why_ and then it became soul-crushingly sad, a reminder of when he had truly hurt his brother the worst, all those years ago.

And like always, he had lifted his brother out of the clothes pile, tucked him into bed and did his best not to drink himself into a stupor afterwards.

At the very least he didn't have to lift Arty's, **Artemis's** , bed anymore to get to his brother. It had been difficult to get him back into bed without him waking up on him when Arty, _Artemi_ \- oh buck it all! When **ARTY** was sleeping under there, wrapped up in his blankets.

For a brief moment, Solaris was glad Artemis had stayed away from the medical textbooks, certain that if he had ever stumbled onto the term security blanket, he would automatically believe that Solaris had talked about Artemis's more private moments, no matter how much Solaris claimed, truthfully, that the term instead came from that wonderful cartoonist Charlie-Horse M. Schulz.

Shaking his head clear of all those thoughts, he sat down in the largest chair and waited for his trusted guard to sit down before setting up a sound muffling spell.

"As I said before, Barri," she flinched at that, no doubt feeling like a little filly before her father. It was something Solaris was aware of and deeply hated to do to his little ponies, but at times it was necessary. "Luna was very depressed."

"How so?"

"She was very certain that she was undeserving of any love, and equally certain that she was the reason Artemis and herself found each other…" he waved a hoof in the air, trying to find the right words.

Barricade nodded her head. "I understand what you are saying, Sire."

"She also believes that she and Arty were the reason why Celestia and I..." he paused again, trying to think of the right words. "Acted as we did."

"And you don't believe that?"

"I don't _want_ to believe it," he sighed, rubbing a hoof through his beard. "I truly hope there is something between the two, but I do know my brother, and it was very sudden for him to be _this_ taken with Luna."

He noticed Barricade's frown deepen for a moment, but he would _never_ let that face work on him on _this_ issue. "That is _still_ far beyond your paygrade, Barri."

She huffed, rolling her eyes at the Prince. "Sire, I am aware that Prince Artemis has some issues with mares, and I could do my job _better_ if I knew exactly why."

"Barri…" His own frown deepened, admiring and hating the dedication she put forth to protecting Arty and himself. In her own mind, she could only do her job if she knew her charges inside and out, and for as long as she'd served as Gleaming Shield's second in command, she had proven that as a fact time after time. She knew a lot of Solaris's mannerisms and the reasons behind his usual soft goofball approach, she was able to really get through to him and give him solid advice when he needed it the most. She also had done a lot with Artemis, doing a lot of subtle things for his brother to gain his trust over the years and never doing anything to make him doubt her honesty to the lunar alicorn. Tartarus, she was the one that usually that went out to get his socks, as Arty was _far_ too shy to actually go out and buy some himself.

Thus, it had annoyed her to see that Artemis had some sort of issue, and that Solaris refused to ever mention what exactly it was despite her desire to help Artemis being genuine. And she knew better than to ever to bring it up with Artemis himself so she was stuck being unable to help her prince fully.

She huffed again, gritting her teeth. But the issue was dropped for now. "As you were saying, Luna was depressed?"

"Yes," he said as he picked up his teacup and took a sip. "As I said, she doesn't believe that she deserves the affection of anypony, and I don't have the faintest idea why she would think like that."

There was a pause, and then Barricade coughed. "Sire, maybe it was due to whatever the reason was that she became her own Nightterror Knight?"

That caused Solaris to stop and think. "Maybe…" He tapped his chin. "It didn't seem she was yearning for respect before, did she?"

Steel Barricade shook her head. "No, she didn't," she frowned in thought. "More like a mare that was hurt by another pony, really badly."

"Yet, I know she hasn't been with another…" he flicked his gaze at her disapproving eyes. "She admitted it to me in Artemis's dream realm last night, in a fit of rage." That caused her to lessen her frown, but only slightly.

"Sire, you told me that Prince Artemis was affected by that parasite because he wanted more respect for his night, correct?"

"Yes…" he nodded his head, wondering where she was going with this.

"Perhaps it was for a different reason for Luna? Maybe she wanted the love from everypony for her night instead of the respect for her night?"

"I do not know, and it would be wrong to ask her." Solaris tapped his hooves, and sighed. "But I feel you may be right."

"We can only speculate unless she tells us, Sire," the earth pony sighed, shaking her head at what must have happened for anypony to be that uncertain about her own self worth. "So what are my orders for Princess Luna?"

As if she needed to ask… "The same as you would for Prince Artemis." He rolled his eyes, huffing a bit at her silliness. She almost smirked at him, a feat he rarely got to experience with her.

His ears went up suddenly as he heard the lack of water running despite the spells blocking the sounds still being around Arty's room. It was something he'd picked up during the last thousand years or so, and it was a damn fine talent to hone when he needed to make a quick exit in the morning or when he needed to stop searching around the strange room he woke up in after a night of drinking.

If Arty or Steel Barricade ever learned about the latter, he was certain that the door to the royal wine cellar would be bricked up and made teleportation proof, as well as warnings being made to all the bars, taverns, wine stores, booze stores, clubs, illegal stills and all the rest against serving a light brown maned white pegasus, unicorn or earth pony named Sunny Days.

Faust above, Arty had done it in the past, complaining that he was tired of dragging his fat flanks through the streets and propping him up like a puppet at day court, and he said he was going to make sure it wouldn't happen again.

Yet it did, time and time again he would get completely inebriated as Arty could not find all his hiding spots and he would get drunk just to annoy his brother. And then he lost his brother and drinking to excess no longer had any appeal to him.

"A-hem." Luna came into the room, smiling as she came dressed in the lovely outfit that Elusive had made her. "Art we interrupting a private conversation?" She could sense the sound muffling spell, which Solaris hadn't taken down. Oh bu-

"Of sorts, your highness," Steel Barricade nodded her head, and moved to stand beside the princess. "Solaris was going over some intimate manners concerning certain nobles that made an unscheduled appearance this afternoon." Luna had a frown on her a face for a fraction of a second, but then Steel Barricade proved her worth by her next sentence. "I must say, that was a grand way to get rid of that foal Bluebelle." She let out a laugh, rubbing against Luna's side. "I am dreading to ask, but is there a male version of her in your world as well?"

"Sadly yes, he does exist." Luna let out a laugh, shuddering for dramatics. "Yet I have not been able to fully discipline him as I would like to as it would upset the various structures in the government if I were to bring my hoof to his flanks."

"Ah, it's true," Barricade laughed as well, wiping a nonexistent tear away from her face. "There have been times I wished to properly discipline that mare but I am far too needed to lose my job over somepony like her."

"As I am not sure wherever I would find as good as a pony as you to make sure that the guards are in line." Solaris let out a small laugh, joining into the conversation.

Luna looked at Barricade. Barricade looked at Luna. They shared a look between mares, one that had deep meaning behind it all.

" _Ah_ ," Luna smiled sagely, with Barricade nodding her head in agreement. "I see." Both of them then giggled.

"What?" Solaris was truly confused by this, wondering why Barricade was actually giggling all of a sudden.

That caused them to only giggle louder, shaking their heads. At _him!_

"What?" he protested again, only for them to giggle louder again. "Oh, buck this," he groaned playfully. He had long ago given up on trying to understand mares, it only caused headaches and him to doubt his masculinity when he tried. "I'm not even going to _try_ to understand what is going on."

"It would be for the best, Solaris." Luna smiled, nodding her head again.

"Indeed, Sire," Barricade gave a hidden smile behind her stoic guard face. "Excellent decision, Princess Luna."

"Thank you, Captain…" Luna's cheeks reddened for a moment, blushing as she realized she hadn't learned the other mare's name.

"Steel Barricade, Princess Luna," she bowed properly, going the extra distance to use the ancient manner of greeting royalty. "It is a pleasure to finally to be properly introduced."

"Likewise," Luna beamed, and then let out a truly adorable yawn. "Oh excuse me, that was a bit un-mare like." She giggled again, turning her head to the side in embarrassment.

"Oh, that's simply nonsense," Barricade chuckled, patting Luna on the shoulder. "I have seen Prince Solaris do far worse, and no one has yet to stop calling him a prince." She then put on an evil grin. "Despite the many, many, incidents. Like the one time I had to help dislodge a tuba-"

"OI!" Solaris blushed, surprised that Barricade would even mention that!

"Merely explaining the facts to Princess Luna, Sire." Her face twitched, a smile almost gracing her muzzle.

"And it is a fact that I will be trying in vain to get out of my mind." Luna laughed, shaking her head again. She blushed as her stomach began to grumble.

"If you will follow me, Princess Luna, I can take you to dining room, where I hear that Barbara the Dragon has decided to make a lovely dinner, and I for one am eager to partake."

"If she is anything like Spike, then her cuisine will be divine." Luna had a dreamy smile on her face, one which Solaris was quite used to seeing. He had gained a considerable amount of weight during the years Artemis had been away, and he had barely gotten back to his lesser weight before he took Dusk Shine on as his student.

He then realized that he could always restart his diet on another day, and to Tartarus with it.

* * *

Luna looked around a touch of uncertainty before taking what would be her normal seat had she been dining with Celestia, with Solaris sitting by her side. The rest of the male versions of the ponies that once saved her were already there, with Tw-Dusk Shine buried into a book, which if her eyes were correct, was on mechanics of dream realms. The rest of them were talking with each other, with Butter… _Butterscotch_ sitting sadly. Rainbow Blitz, if she remembered right, was patting him on the back as he talked to the farmer, Applejack if she recalled correctly. Elusive and the pink pony were talking to each other over, if she was hearing correctly, the properness of party attire for royal events.

Thinking about Celestia caused a small knot to form in her chest. She knew Artemis might have feelings for her but there was lingering doubt in her mind that he would turn his eyes to Celestia while she was here. And then she felt horrible for thinking like that, ashamed that she thought that low of her own sister. But try as she might, she could not silence that voice in her head that claimed Artemis would no longer care for her if she did not make haste back home.

Hopefully tonight they would receive the answers they needed, and she could find out where she truly stood with Artemis. She closed her eyes for a few moments, to force back the tears from thinking of all that, then smiled at the stallions around her.

"Good evening to you all." She saw that nearly all of them smiled back at her honestly, with one adorable exception.

Dusk Shine proved to be just as big as a bookworm as Twilight was, still reading the book. She shot a look to Solaris who only rolled his eyes at the scene and held a hoof to his muzzle as he got up from his seat.

For a pony as large as he was, he moved very lightly on his hooves as he walked behind the young prince's chair.

Coughing softly, he tapped the very startled pony on the shoulder. "Dusk Shine, what did we say about reading at the dining table?"

"Um…" he blushed, trying to hide in the back of his seat. Which proved exactly what Solaris wanted as he lifted the book up in one hoof as he leaned his other on Dusk's head. "Sorry Pri-Solaris. I was just trying to find something to help Princess Luna and I-"

"Tuttatata," Solaris placed the book over the alicorn's mouth, shaking his head. "We do have plans in place, Dusk Shine, although I am pleased to see you took it upon yourself to do some light research on the matter." He chuckled, his magic encircling the book as it floated away. "In fact, once we are done eating and the such, we will require your assistance later."

"Oh?"

"Yes, Dusk Shine," Luna smiled gently. "We, that is Artemis and I, realize that while we might be experts on the matter of dream magic, having two ponies whose special talents are magic itself would be a great boon to unraveling the question of why we have switched places."

"Su-I mean, I will be honoured to assist you Princess Luna," Dusk stood up tall, bowing his head. It was adorable, truly adorable. "We'll do anything to help you and Prince Artemis, Princess Luna."

With short shouts of agreements from the rest of the stallions, Luna turned her attention to the still sad pegasus. "What troubles you, Butterscotch?" She blinked, confused as she'd never seen or heard Fluttershy being _this_ sad.

"Oh, it's nothing, Princess," he mumbled, sinking behind his mane. Rainbow Blitz turned his attention to his friend, and pulled him into a light hug. "Just that I can't find Eris and I'm worried for her."

"Come on Scotch, I'm sure that she's fine." Blitz tapped his friend's shoulder, rolling his eyes. "I mean, I doubt _any_ pony could try anything with her. And you've told me that she's been acting better, right?"

"Yeah…" he whimpered out, still very unsure of himself. "I wish-"

"You need not worry," Luna smiled softly, walking over to the stallion. "I saw her earlier today and she seemed in fine spirits," She placed a hoof on his shoulder, "In fact, if I were willing to wager, she is trying to find a way to make amends with you as she acted improperly before."

"You're sure?" He looked up at her, with doubt in his bright eyes. Oh, she could see why he was judged one of the cutest stallions by the mares she'd talked with earlier. The way that the draconequus got angry when they started to talk about his equipment was adorable, with her muttering, ' _My_ pegasus,' repeatedly under her breath while squishing a pillow between her claws as she tried not to snap them into other things.

"I am sure of it. In fact, I am certain she would be willing to go to war for you." Her chuckle was met with the rest of the stallions' own laughter, some nodding their heads. "She is deeply in love with you, and I am positive that she is trying to find the right way to make amends with Solaris as she knows how much it would mean to you."

"Heh," he smiled and blushed, going back to hiding behind his mane. "Thank you, Princess."

"If we are all settled, my little ponies," Solaris beamed, dragging all their attention back to the front, "I do believe Barbara is ready to serve us her latest creation."

With that Luna went back to her seat, smiling at the great meal that was being brought out. This was truly a feast that should last forever.

* * *

With a groan and a belly-patting, Solaris walked with Luna to the balcony with the stallions following numbly behind them. It seemed that all of them, save for Luna, had over-ate, with Rainbow Blitz hovering lazily just barely above the ground.

"Sire, I am also going to inform the royal dieters that they will need to be pressed back into service, is there anypony else that I am forgetting?"

Oh yes, Barricade was _also_ there, making a list of all the officials she needed to talk to about restarting his diet. She was enjoying this _far_ too much, and he made a mental note to make very irritating sunbeams for her days off. Having to deal with her afterwards would make it worth it, no matter what she did to get him back.

"Possibly yes, but I am not going to tell you, Steel Barricade," he gave a light smile at her annoyed frown. "It would be a poor show of your prowess if I did your job for you, and it could very well start a snowball effect where other ponies become reliant on me and that is something nopony would ever want."

"Indeed, Sire," she smirked at him, moving to stand in the corner of the balcony before he realized what he said. "I do believe it is time to set the sun, Sire. If you wish me to go fetch the pegasi to aid you as-"

"Thank you, but that will not be necessary, my little pony." He tried to shoot her a look, but both Luna and Steel Barricade shared another look and giggled, causing him to gulp. "A-as I am more than capable of flying myself upwards," They giggled _again_! Why Faust, was that so terrifying! "In the sky."

They didn't giggle this time but simply shook their heads, which was even worse somehow! With quivering legs, he quickly flew into the sky and started to push the sun away, setting it on its track on the other side of the world. He landed back down on the balcony with a gentle smile, and nodded his head towards Luna.

With a face filled with determination, Luna flew herself upwards, her horn glowing. Solaris could feel her gripping Arty's moon, and with a gentle tug, she lifted it upright into the night sky. Frowning for a second, he saw a sudden patch of light into the sky and then another one.

Arty's manner of bringing forth his night sky always made him think of old battles long past, a distant time when things were more dangerous and there was protection under his brother's moon. Luna's, on the other hoof, was dazzling, bringing in bursts of light and life. It made him laugh a bit, feeling lighter than he had in awhile. He was reminded of the days when he and Arty were little foals, and _everything_ was simple and there were no heartaches! By Faust, how could anypony _not_ love her night sky?

"Amazing display, Princess Luna, simply amazing," Elusive said with a face filled with awe, walking closer to the lunar alicorn mare. "I have not seen anything as divine as that in _ages_ and I-"

He was cut off when Applejack placed his hooves on his shoulders. "Whoa there partner," he grinned, gently hitting the unicorn on the head with his hat. "Remember that there Princess is spoken for." He gave a gentle nudge, causing the white tailor to blush horribly.

"I-I-I-" Elusive tried to hide behind his mane, but failed. He blushed even harder when his friends started to laugh, while Luna tried hard not to laugh at the scene. "Sorry, Princess Luna," he squeaked out, looking at the floor.

"It's alright, my little pony," she patted him on the shoulder, shaking her head in amusement. "I understand what you meant, and it was lovely to hear somepony say that about my night."

"What‽" Elusive reared backwards, with indignation on his face. "How could they _not_ see the beauty and appreciate it?"

There was an awkward silence which Solaris took care of by coughing and stepping next to Luna's side. "Come Luna, I do believe we should try meeting with my brother, Princess Twilight Sparkle and," he paused, forcing himself to say the next name. "Princess Celestia."

"Indeed, Solaris," Luna yawned, shaking her head. "If you would be so kind to join us, Dusk Shine?"

The solar alicorn responded with a small wink, and his lavender alicorn former student followed them as they made their way to Artemis's bedroom.

"So how does this work, So-I mean, Princess Luna?" Dusk Shine blushed as the doors closed behind him, almost asking the day alicorn about night magic. "Is it a potion or a spell or-"

"Hush, Dusk Shine," Solaris placed a hoof over his mouth, smirking. "Allow our guest to speak while I try to think of a way that would be… appropriate to do this." He gulped inwards, wondering how they _would_ do this as he would need to be very close to Luna and that could cause major trouble if somepony saw them and misunderstood the situation.

"Appro- what do you mean Solaris?" Dusk blinked at the tall pony by his side, with Luna slipping off her regalia and rolling her eyes at him.

"He means that for this potion to work, close proximity is required, and he is afraid that somepony will mistake this as something else." She settled herself in the middle of the bed, lifting the vial of the potion that he got yesterday for Arty so he could meet the mare laying on the bed. Oh, he never thought he would see the day that a mare would actually be on his brother's bed like that.

" _Ah_. I see." Oh, not Dusk Shine too! That was not fair! "So besides drinking the potion, Princess Luna, what will I need to do?" He gently got onto the bed, laying next to Luna with some distance between them.

"Simply concentrate within your own mind and push outwards with your own magic," Luna said, watching him settle down by her other side, shedding his own regalia. "The potion will put your mind in a state of ease while letting you retain your mental capabilities."

"Fascinating," Dusk frowned, concentrating his magic as he pushed out a magical strand. "Like this?"

"Exactly, fair Dusk." Luna said with some amazement.

Solaris could easily see why. This spell had taken Artemis and himself a long time to perfect and his former student got it on his first try. Solaris quickly focused his own magic strand out, taking a sip of the potion. He briefly noted that there was only enough for tonight before giving it over to Dusk Shine.

"N-now whut, Wrincess Woona?" Dusk Shine yawned loudly, his own magic strand being taken up by Luna's along with his own, while she was giggling very softly.

"Now we meet our friends, and family."

And with that, Luna brought them into her dream realm.

* * *

Blinking, Solaris found himself in the same dream realm that he was in last night. Looking around, he saw that Luna was already walking over to his little brother with a small smile on her face. Arty was as red as a tomato, and Solaris was instantly convinced that was all true between the two. He made a point to ignore the mare directly across from him, that was something he would need to address later.

Moving his head again, he saw that Dusk Shine was walking towards the middle, where this Twilight Sparkle was heading. Everything became quiet.

Both of them opened their mouths and then they would know the answer.


	18. Chapter Twelve - Artemis

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-09-05 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Twelve - Artemis**

Artemis smiled at seeing Luna again, grinning like a colt at Hearth's Warming Eve. He could feel his face redden from just being around her, and yet he was able to see that she was just fine. She wasn't in her torc, he noticed, but wore nothing at all as did every other pony in the dream realm. So he tried to make the effort to shed it but _that_ part of his mind refused to stop niggling at him and let go of the past.

He paused in front of Luna, trying his damnedest to think of what to say to her, only to find his mind was refusing to form even the most basic of ideas.

Luna, on the other hoof, simply stared at him with her head cocked to the side and her mane shading a part of her face with a hint of what had to be… Oh what was that makeup called? Bluebelle had once bored him to sleep once going over a vast number of different products and had had the gall to be angry with him after she woke him up! She then proceeded to start all over again! Whatever it was called, it was light pink and seemed to be applied beautifully on Luna's face.

He didn't know how she did it, but even with that simple gesture with her head and muzzle and that makeup, she seemed to radiate elegance, beauty and so much more than any mare he'd ever met!

Blinking in surprise, he felt his wings begin to vibrate and his horn warming up, and he knew he was blushing even worse now as his body started to act like _that!_

Turning his head away from the mare, he caught his brother smiling at him before turning to look at the centre of the room.

He saw the two young alicorns walk up to and stare at one another, their mouths opening and closing, as they more than likely were trying to think of what to say.

Artemis was worried of what was going to be said now more than ever, sharing a terrified glance with Luna.

With a loud gulp, he saw Dusk Shine try to be a perfect gentlecolt; bowing his head and lowering his right wing to the mare across of him.

Unfortunately, Princess Twilight tried to be a good host at the same time, by bowing her head forwards while dipping her own right wing.

With an almost comical thud, both of them fell on their tails and held their heads in pain. He heard a chuckle, and saw Solaris biting his lip for obvious reasons. He was about to yell at him when he heard Luna groan, and he greatly suspected Celestia was also trying not to laugh. Poorly too.

"Oowww," both of the lavender alicorns groaned, shaking their heads in the same direction. "Sorry about that."

Artemis frowned and shared his concerned look with Luna. It was an unspoken observation between the two that unlike their siblings, _these_ ponies had fallen into mimicking each other.

_Odd_ , he thought.

He could almost hear Luna agreeing with him, saying it was very odd indeed.

"Hello." Both of them blinked at each other, surprised that they were in tune with each other. "Um..." They both blushed, rubbing the back of their heads. "I'm PrincePrincess DuskTwilight ShineSparkle… hmmm…" Both of them stopped speaking, rubbing their chins in concentration. "Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Both of the alicorns of Magic's eyes widened, showing that they were indeed pondering the same thing, but Artemis had a feeling if Pinkie was asked, she would come up with something so farfetched it would cause headaches to even try to think through the mare's thought processes.

"What is it, Princess Twilight, Prince Dusk?" Luna asked, stepping closer to the two while at the same time leaning on Artemis.

"Care to explain to us, young prince, princess?" Artemis narrowed his eyes, brushing against Luna, feeling his ethereal tail mix with Luna's. He was ashamed to admit it, but he as well as Luna meeped loudly and pulled back.

"That our world's shared histories, and the great similarities that seem to be based solely on the gender lines is what is causing us to speak like this as we share so much in common!" Both of them grinned at each other, seeing their theory gain weight by both being said at the same note.

"A good observation, my-" Solaris frowned and paused, shooting a look at Celestia and then at him. "Our?"

"I would think so, Prince Solaris. For the time being," Celestia replied as she walked over to the pair of alicorn turned former students, frowning as she addressed his brother. "But I do believe that is a fact we were all aware of."

Artemis saw the two of them seem to deflate at this and he frowned. Then he heard Luna's huff of annoyance, almost hearing her muttering at her sister's sudden lack of tact.

With a thought of how glad he was that Solaris was keeping his mouth shut for once, Artemis took a step forwards and cleared his throat. "To be fair, we, that is Luna and I," he nodded to the mare next to him, feeling his ears redden again. "Were in the same state as you two are in."

"Yes, and the only ponies that were not were my sister and Prince Solaris…" Luna trailed off, her face broadcasting her growing suspicion, mimicking what Artemis was thinking.

" _Oh_ …" Both his brother and Celestia's eyes became wide and started to sweat, a blush starting to grow. "I see why we didn't get stuck…" Solaris shared a look shot from Celestia, as they were beginning to speak at the same time.

Artemis groaned, wondering what _exactly_ his brother did to make him actually blush like that.

Luna rolled her eyes; he could almost feel her befuddlement at the same question.

"We will explain that later-" Both of the solar alicorns frowned, and shook their heads. "Nay, we will explain now- Faust above this is annoying!" both of them whined, causing every other pony to laugh.

"It helps if you set up an order of who goes first." Artemis gave Luna a nudge, to which she gave a wink back. "Right Luna?"

"Indeed," she smirked, turning her head to his brother. "Solaris, if you would allow my sister to go first, and then you, we can explain this in a far faster manner."

"Very well, Princess Luna." Solaris gave her a bow and a smirk, which caused Artemis to desire to leap over and smack it off his face for some reason. "You remember the Mirror to the human world?"

"Yes…" was the collective response from four ponies.

"Well," Celestia spoke up, sending a smile towards him which caused Luna to tense up for some reason. "I had spent some time over there, investigating and speaking to several people in the case of a softer place to send ponies that needed a different place to serve their time fo-"

"In other words, seeing if it would be a better place to banish somepony than the moon." Luna accused Celestia which cut off her rambling speech, Artemis glaring at his brother at the same time.

"Yes," Solaris said guiltily. "Without the natural presence of magic, it seemed to be a better place to send somepony that was infused by a magical emotional parasite as-"

"It would lose a severe hold on the pony in question and put the pony in a better place to fight it," Artemis continued, tapping his chin. Nightterror Knight was much more than simply _that_ , but it would have put Artemis in a better place to fight off the monster without it using his own magic against him.

"I see _some_ of the benefits of it," Luna responded as she stepped forwards, frowning as she thought on the matter. "But you do realize that Nightmare Moon had more than my magic at her hooves, correct?"

"Yes, Luna." Celestia smiled, walking closer to the group. "That's why I assume Solaris said _better_ , not _the_ best?"

"Indeed, Celestia," Solaris nodded, smiled softly at the group. "That still leaves the question to how Princess Luna and Prince Artemis met."

"Wait." Both Twilight Sparkle and Dusk Shine's ears shot upwards. "How did you make the Mirror in the first place, SolarisCelestia?"

Solaris and Celestia shot each other a surprised look before turning their attention to the two ponies. "We did not make it," they both answered at the same time. "It was done by magic far more specified and trained than ours." They both shook their heads, moving inwards at first. "We barely understand the principles behind such much magic, let alone how it was placed behind a screen or how the time limit was set up."

"Well, going over what we learned," Twilight and Dusk smiled, pulling out a list of notes. "Dreams and that kind of magic both are exposed to the magical essence of reality- what's wrong?" They looked up from their notes and stared at the slack jawed alicorns.

"Do you realize that you two have just casually constructed something in our dream realms that is highly precise?" Artemis licked his lips, sharing the amazed look that Luna had on her face.

"That's a _highly_ complicated feat," Luna blinked at him, shaking her head. "Especially for it to be _here_ , of all places."

_Amazing_ , he thought.

_Simply amazing._

"Continue, pl- please." Artemis waved his hoof, urging them on.

"Well, since your dream realms are the most powerful in both worlds, and magic does become stronger with emotional outbursts, maybe that was the cause!" They frowned, and tapped their chins. "But something else must be present, some guiding force to make the connection…"

"Impossible," Artemis shook his head.

"No pony could be that talented without us noticing." Luna shook her head as well.

"It seems we are back to where we began, my friends." Solaris sighed, looking at the ground, frowning.

"I do wish we could talk to our counterparts in the human world," Celestia said with a distant look on her face. "While they do not have magic itself, they _do_ have a great deal of knowledge on the matter of the Mirror," she bit her lip, ears flicking to the side. "I do wish I would have been able to get her to talk more instead of…" her face started to redden, along with his brother's. Artemis heard Luna sigh with him, facehooving with his right hoof to Luna's left.

"To be fair, brother," Solaris raised a hoof. " _He_ came onto _me_."

"And," Celestia grinned, despite the horrified faces of the four alicorns at hearing about their mentors' and siblings' sex life. "She did teach me a _great_ deal of things."

"Thank you sister for those mental images that will never leave my mind." Luna shuddered, as she was no doubt thinking of her own sister on top of a copy of herself like Solaris-ACK!

Artemis's mind thankfully stabbed itself to death before it went further, and he was glad he was unable to retch within his dream realm.

"Why?" Twilight and Dusk asked their former mentors, causing Luna and himself to again shudder as their minds were trying to come up with improper proper mental images for the question at hoof.

"Well, there is a charm in being with somepony that knows you very well," Solaris smiled with a hint of a smirk, and instantly Artemis wondered what his brother was doing.

"Indeed, Twilight, Dusk." Celestia gave the same smile to the pair and a quick glance to his side told him Luna saw the same thing.

What were they doing?

"I mean, Dusk Shine, do you not find Twilight here a bit attractive?"

Artemis had to bite his lip to keep from gasping; everything up to this point had more or less a plot to get to the answer! To raise their comfort levels to get ready for this sort of talk without any sense of underhoofedness!

With a blink, he felt Luna's hoof grab his own, and without thinking, he held hers back.

Dusk turned his head to Twilight, both of them blushing now at being put on the spot.

"Well, Solaris," Dusk looked off to the side, trailing his hoof in a circle. "I can _kinda_ see the appeal, but…"

"But what, Dusk Shine?" Solaris gave him a gently prod with his voice.

"She's kinda… _short_?"

"Short?" Twilight Sparkle stopped blushing, pulling her head back and blinking in confusion.

"Yeah, and if I were being completely honest, the Royal Guards have much more compact bod-HMMMPH!"

Thankfully, Solaris had stopped him from saying any more by placing his hooves over the stallion's mouth while Celestia was trying to pull back a fuming mare that was dragging her forwards ever so slightly. The young mare's horn was glowing, and her eyes were twitching from Dusk Shine's comment. For his part, Artemis was very glad he was off to the side as not to get hit by any stray magic.

"Dusk Shine, remind me to get you proper lessons of how to talk to a girl once this is done." He gave an embarrassed look to Celestia, and then a sheepish look to the still eye-twitching Twilight Sparkle. "Something _long_ overdue, by the looks of things."

"Yes!" Twilight snapped, glaring at the quivering stallion. "I would think _so_!"

"I-if I may?" Dusk Shine meekly spoke up after moving the hooves away from his mouth, although leaning deeply against his mentor's chest for protection.

_If I had said something like that to Luna, I would be hiding in the deepest pit in all of Equestria._

_Still wouldn't be deep enough to hide you._

Solaris gave Dusk Shine a nod and then let go of the lavender alicorn to face the _other_ lavender alicorn.

He took a couple of deep breaths of air before he spoke. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, I mean no disrespect to you at all. I was simply speaking without thinking, and I am _really_ sorry about almost calling you fa-" Solaris thankfully coughed at the right moment, stopping Dusk Shine from putting another hoof in his mouth. "I-"

"It's okay," Twilight clearly lied to everypony there, a heavy sigh was a clear indication. She then chuckled, giving a knowing look at the pony across of her. "I kinda know what you mean, I think."

"Say, um," Dusk's cheeks were red now, looking off to the side. "When you were in the human world, did you happen to meet somepony with a guita-"

"Yup!" Twilight exclaimed loudly, a big grin on her face before breaking off into giggles and gaining her own blush. "Have you worked up the courage to talk to hi- I mean her?"

"N- no, not yet…" They both blushed a deeper red and giggled together.

"A- and who might this pony be?" Celestia asked through clenched teeth, with Solaris sporting a similar sour look.

Artemis turned his head to see Luna roll her eyes at him, clearly aware that they would need to talk about Flare Scout and her male counterpart now.

"A pony that has endured far too much crap, Solaris," Artemis said as he walked over to the alicorns, with Luna walking very closely beside him. His heart started to beat a bit faster, as the realization of what that little conversation meant for Luna and himself started to sink into his head!

"Yes, sister," Luna beamed a smile at the group, but Artemis felt it was meant for _him_. "The poor-"

"OH COME ON!"

"BOO!"

All six of their heads snapped to the side and stared at a distant spot on the wall as they heard two very distinctive voices.

There was a long period of silence before the area spoke again.

"You think they know we're here Discy?"

"Maybe, Airy, I don't know."

Artemis lost control at that point, screaming with Luna in pure rage, destroying the false wall in their dream realm and revealing two very scared draconequui.

"WHAT ARE THOU DOING HERE ERISDISCORD‽" both of the lunar alicorns shouted, their coats turning ebony black.

"Um…" Discord tapped his claws together, shooting a panicked look at Eris.

"Uh…" Eris gulped, swishing nervously in the air, returning the panicked look to Discord.

"Oh screw this! CHEESE IT!" Both of them turned around and flew off to the distant part of the dream realm.

"THOU WILL RETURN HERE POST HASTE YOU MISERABLE LOT!" The double Royal Canterlot Shout was truly something to behold; deafening to anypony that was not an alicorn or in a dream realm. For those that were alicorns or in a dream realm, they would have ringing ears for a while. Both of the lunar alicorns flew after the two draconequui who turned around with a panicked smile.

"We'regoingtopopoutforawhile,leteveryponycalmdownokay?" Discord sputtered out, ducking a shot of moon magic from one of the two enraged alicorns.

"CaptialideaDiscord!" Eris gave a weak smirk as she ducked a thrown greatsword that almost certainly came from Luna's magical hold. "TellButtersnottoworryandIlovehim!" Eris floated closer to Discord as a very large battle axe and mace came straight at her head.

"SametoFluttersplease!" Discord was now back to back with Eris. Both of the draconequui smiled and snapped their fingers, waking everypony up and opening a Door to the Realms In Between while making sure to leave a small wedge for them to get back in later.

* * *

Artemis roared himself awake, his horn still glowing from his rage at the discovery in the dream realm. Flaring his wings open, knocking both mares off the bed. He sent a bolt of magic out, slicing through the headboard and making a hole through the wall. A stomp of his rear hooves snapped the bed in half and dented the floor beneath it, but that wasn't enough for him. He needed more, to destroy more! Buck everything, all would learn to fear him again for daring to make a fool of him again! He would see that Canterlot was dead by his hooves and cities were ablaze for making his life a joke again! He would tear down the sky cities from the sky and laugh at _them_ , to make _them_ see how it was! He would-

Before he could send another bolt of magic out or continue his train of thought, he felt a tight hold over his body. It was soft, feathery, and comforting.

So very comforting.

With that, all of his anger was drained out and all that was left was the shame of thinking those horrible thoughts. He just leaned against Celestia, trying to get a hold of himself as he cried out his rage and regrets of everything.

"Feeling better, Prince Artemis?" Celestia asked after a period of silence.

"Ye- yes," Artemis hiccuped, turning his head around so he could see what he had done this time in his anger.

...Not much, by the looks of things. A single room destroyed. That was good, as it could have been far, _far_ worse.

Twilight was sitting off to the side, looking at something as the guards started to pile into the room with some hesitation.

"Wh- what is that, Twilight?" He asked with a shaky voice, walking over to her.

"It's-we found it on the bed," Twilight said, levitating over the piece of paper with a small hook a the top. "I think Discord wanted you to find it on your horn."

"It _would_ fit…" Artemis muttered as he started to read the paper.

_To grumpy alicorn of the night, Sunbutt, and Twilight, Eris and I will be off fishing for a short while until everypony calms down._

_Hugs and Kiss for everypony_

_Discord!_

Artemis sighed sadly, turning it over absentmindedly, noticing even more text.

_P.S.: Tell Flutters I am sorry for this and I will be back very soon and you are NOT allowed to give her hugs and kisses!_

_Discord_

Scrunching the paper up and throwing it off to the side, he gave another look around the room he had destroyed in his ange- no, in his _foalish_ temper tantrum.

Artemis curled up into a ball, with new tears running down his face.

He was an unbalanced monster that was a few words away from simply destroying everything he cared about.

He didn't deserve such affection from anypony.

He didn't deserve Luna.

_Oh buck my life._

Artemis froze where he sat. He distantly heard Celestia asking him what the matter was but there was a more pressing matter right now.

Although he had thought that, he did _not_ hear his own voice echoing that thought.


	19. Chapter Twelve - Luna

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-09-05 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Twelve - Luna**

Luna smiled at seeing Artemis again, grinning like a mare at her first time being alone with a colt on a secluded hill in the middle of the night, on a slightly chilly spring day… She could tell she was blushing from just being around Artemis, and yet he was seemed to have this aloofness about himself that she envied. He was in his torc, she noticed, unlike every other pony in the dream realm. She made a mental note of it for later, plans in the back of her mind to how she would ask him.

Artemis paused in front of her, causing Luna's mind to grind to a halt. She tried to think of something to say instead of trying to hide behind her mane, with her face blushing horribly!

She did not know how he did it. He simply stood there, confidence radiating from his body. He was still, yet straightforward. Not a single part of him was slouching, not even his well kept wings. His entire form was well groomed, his horn almost sparkling and he did his part to keep himself in grand physical condition.

She was amazed at how little he did, but yet how much he showed off his prowess with a simple stance. She felt a bit guilty drinking it all in, with her eyes paying more and more attention to his sides, trailing down to his moons and…

Blinking in surprise, she felt her wings begin to vibrate and her horn warming up, and she held back a meep, blushing even more now as her body had started to act like that so openly!

Turning her head away from the stallion, she caught Celestia flashing a smile at her before turning to look at the centre of the room.

She watched the two young alicorns walk up to each other and stare at what they were seeing, their lips opening and closing as they likely were trying to form a thought of what to say to their pony double.

Luna was troubled of what was going to be said now more than ever, sharing a terrified glance with Artemis.

With a loud gulp, she saw Prince Dusk Shine try to be a perfect gentlecolt; bowing his head and lowering his right wing to the mare across of him while stepping forwards. It was something so few pegasi ever did now, and it was touching to see.

Proving that her sister was no slouch in teaching how to properly meet royalty, Princess Twilight also dipped her right wing, taking a proper half step forwards as she lowered her head to show trust to the other party that no harm would befall them.

With an almost comical thud, both of the Alicorns of Magic fell on their tails and held their heads in pain from their bows. She heard a chuckle, and saw Celestia covering her mouth and trying to hold back a stream of giggles. She groaned, with her eyes briefly meeting Artemis's as she saw Solaris biting his lip for obvious reasons.

"Oowww," both of the lavender alicorn ponies groaned, shaking their heads in the same direction. "Sorry about that."

Luna frowned at this. Artemis shared her concerned look. It was an unspoken observation between the two that unlike their sibling, _these_ ponies had fallen into mimicking each other when they met.

She could almost hear Artemis say that this was odd.

Luna agreed, it was very odd indeed.

"Hello." Both Twilight and Dusk blinked at each other, showing the surprise that they were both in tune with each other's speech. "Um..." They both blushed, rubbing the back of their heads at this already confirmed awkward way of conversing. "I'm PrincePrincess DuskTwilight ShineSparkle… hmmm…" Both of them stopped speaking, rubbing their chins in concentration. "Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Both of the alicorns of Magic's eyes widened, showing that they were pondering the same thing, but Luna had a feeling that if Pinkie was asked, she would come up with something so farfetched it would cause headaches to even try to think through the mare's thought processes.

"What is it, Princess Twilight, Prince Dusk?" Luna asked, taking a step closer to the two of them and leaning against Artemis's side, who was walking beside her. She had to resist every urge to let out a sigh of delight.

"Care to explain to us, young prince, princess?" Artemis similarly inquired of them, brushing against her with equal support, feeling his ethereal tail mix with her own. She was embarrassed to admit it, but both of them meeped loudly and pulled back from the other.

"That our world's shared histories, and the great similarities that seem to be based solely on the gender lines is what is causing us to speak like this as we share so much in common!" Both of the young ponies grinned at each other, seeing their theory gain weight by both being said at the same time and thankfully ignoring her and Artemis's meep.

"A good observation, my-" Solaris took a step forwards, frowning. He shot a look towards Celestia and then at Artemis. "Our?"

"I would think so, Prince Solaris. For the time being." Celestia walked over to the pair of alicorns of magic, frowning as she addressed him. "But I do believe that is a fact we were all aware of."

Luna saw them seem to sink inwards at this and she gave a huff at the lack of tact from her sister.

Artemis took a step forwards, clearing his throat before speaking. "To be fair, we, that is Luna and I," he nodded to her, and with delight, she saw his ears starting to turn red. It was truly adorable! "Were in the same state as you two are in."

"Yes, and the only ponies that were not were my sister and Prince Solaris…" Luna trailed off, getting very suspicious at this revelation. She hoped her face was not broadcasting this as it would be in very poor taste.

" _Oh_ …" Both her sister's and Solaris' eyes became wide and they started to sweat, a blush starting to grow on both their faces. "I see why we didn't get stuck…" Celestia shot a shared look towards Solaris as they were beginning to speak at the same time now.

Luna rolled her eyes, wondering what _exactly_ her sister had done to make her actually blush like _that_.

Artemis groaned; she could almost feel his befuddlement at the same question

"We will explain that later-" Both of the solar alicorns frowned, and shook their heads. "Nay, we will explain now- Faust above this is annoying!" both of them whined, causing every other pony to laugh. Payback should be found and enjoyed whenever possible.

"It helps if you set up an order of who goes first." Artemis gave her a nudge. She gave a wink back at him, clearly enjoying this as well. "Right Luna?"

"Indeed," she smirked, turning her head to Artemis's brother. "Solaris, if you would allow my sister to go first, and then you, we can explain this in a far faster manner."

"Very well Princess Luna," Solaris gave her a bow and a smirk, which made Artemis tense up for some reason. "You remember the Mirror to the human world?"

"Yes…" was the collective response from four ponies.

"Well," Celestia spoke up, sending a smile towards Artemis, which caused Luna the sudden desire to tear her face off for some reason. "I had spent some time over there, investigating it and speaking to several people in the case of a softer place to send ponies that needed a different place to serve their time fo-"

"In other words, seeing if it would be a better place to banish somepony than the moon." Luna accused her sister which cut off her rambling. She was sure that Artemis was more than likely glaring at his brother now for his own dalliance.

"Yes," Solaris replied guiltily. "Without the natural presence of magic, it seemed to be a better place to send somepony that was infused by a magical emotional parasite as-"

"It would lose a severe hold on the pony in question and put the pony in a better place to fight it," Artemis continued, tapping his chin in a very provocative manner. Nightmare Moon was much more than simply a being stealing her body and magic, but it would have put her in a better position to fight off the monster without it using her own magic against herself.

"I see _some_ of the benefits of it," Luna noted as she stepped forwards with a frown. "But you do realize that Nightmare Moon had more than my magic at her hooves, correct?"

"Yes, Luna," Celestia smiled, walking closer toward the group. "That's why I assume Solaris said better, not _the_ best?"

"Indeed Celestia," Solaris nodded, smiled softly at the group. "That still leaves the question to how Princess Luna and Prince Artemis met."

"Wait." both Twilight Sparkle and Dusk Shine's ears shot upwards in a manner most adorable. "How did you make the Mirror in the first place, SolarisCelestia?"

Solaris and Celestia shot each other a surprised look before turning their attention to the two ponies that asked the question. "We did not make it," they both answered at the same time again. "It was done by magic far more specified and trained than ours." They both shook their heads, moving inwards at first. "We barely understand the principles behind such magic, let alone how it was placed behind a screen or how the time limit was set up."

"Well, going over what I learned," Twilight and Dusk smiled, pulling out a list of notes. "Dreams and that kind of magic both are exposed to the magical essence of reality- what's wrong?" They looked up from their notes and stared at the slack jawed alicorns.

"Do you realize that you two have just casually constructed something in our dream realms that is highly precise?" Artemis licked his lips, sharing the amazed look that Luna had on her face.

"That's a _highly_ complicated feat," Luna blinked at Artemis, shaking her head in disbelief. "Especially for it to be _here_ , of all places."

_Amazing._

_Simply amazing_ , she thought.

"Continue, pl- please." Artemis waved his hoof, urging them on.

"Well, since your dream realms are the most powerful in both worlds, and magic does become stronger with emotional outbursts, maybe that was the cause!" They frowned, and tapped their chins in thought. "But something else must be present, some guiding force to make the connection…"

"Impossible," Artemis shook his head.

"No pony could be that talented without us noticing." Luna shook her head as well.

"It seems we are back to where we began, my friends," Solaris sighed, looking at the ground as he gave another frown.

"I do wish we could talk to our counterparts in the human world," Celestia said with a distant look on her face. "While they do not have magic itself, they _do_ have a great deal of knowledge on the matter of the Mirror," she bit her lip, ears flicking to the side. "I do wish I would have been able to get her to talk more instead of…" her faced started to redden, along with Solaris's. Luna heard Artemis sigh with her, facehooving with her left hoof to Artemis's right.

"To be fair, brother," Solaris raised a hoof. " _He_ came onto _me_."

"And," Celestia grinned, despite the horrified faces of the four alicorns at hearing about their mentors' and siblings' sex lives. "She did teach me a _great_ deal of things."

"Thank you sister for those mental images that will never leave my mind." Luna shuddered, thankful that she was able to control her mind before the mental images entered her mind-

Turning her head, she saw Artemis suddenly shuddered violently, more than likely unable to quell his _mind_ from those mental images of her sister having intercourse with herself along with Solaris-GACK!.

Seeing as her mind did not truly hate her, it ceased to function before it went further, and she was glad she was unable to retch within her mind as it would require explaining _why_ to everypony.

"Why?" Twilight and Dusk asked their former mentors, causing Artemis and herself to again shudder as their minds were trying to come up with improper proper mental images for the question at hoof.

"Well, there is a charm in being with somepony that knows you very well," Solaris smiled with a hint of a smirk, and instantly Luna wondered what he was planning.

"Indeed, Twilight, Dusk." Celestia gave the same smile to the pair and a quick glance to her side told her Artemis saw the same thing.

What were they doing?

"I mean, Dusk Shine, do you not find Twilight here a bit attractive?"

Luna had to bite her lip to keep from gasping; everything up to this point had been more or less a plot to get to the answer! To raise their comfort levels to get ready for this sort of talk without any sense of underhoofedness!

She reached out for Atermis's hoof, and with a sharp spike of delight, she felt his hoof grab hers.

Dusk turned his head to Twilight, both of them were blushing now at being put on the spot.

"Well, Solaris," Dusk looked off to the side, trailing his hoof in a circle. "I can _kinda_ see the appeal, but…"

"But what, Dusk Shine?" Solaris gave him a gently prod with his voice.

"She's kinda… _short_?"

"Short?" Twilight Sparkle stopped blushing, pulling her head back and blinking in confusion.

"Yeah, and if I were being completely honest, the Royal Guards have much more compact bod-HMMMPH!"

Thankfully, Solaris had stopped him saying anymore by placing his hooves over the stallion's mouth while Celestia was trying to pull back a fuming mare that was dragging her forwards very so slightly. The young mare's horn was glowing, and eyes were twitching from Dusk Shine's comment and Luna was very glad that they were off to the side as not to get hit by any stray magic.

"Dusk Shine, remind me to get you proper lessons of how to talk to a girl once this done," he gave an embarrassed look to Celestia, and then a sheepish look to the still eye-twitching Twilight Sparkle. "Something _long_ overdue, by the looks of things."

"Yes!" Twilight snapped, glaring at the quivering stallion. "I would think _so_!"

"I- if I may?" Dusk Shine meekly spoke up after moving the hooves away from his mouth, although leaning deeply against Solaris's chest for protection.

_If I had said something like that to Luna, I would be hiding in the deepest pit in all of Equestria._

_Still wouldn't be deep enough to hide you._

Solaris gave Dusk Shine a nod and then let go of the lavender alicorn to face the _other_ lavender alicorn.

He took a couple of deep breaths of air before he spoke. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, I mean no disrespect to you at all. I was simply speaking without thinking, and I am _really_ sorry about almost calling you fa-" Solaris thankfully coughed at the right moment, stopping Dusk Shine from putting another hoof in his mouth. "I-"

"It's okay," Twilight clearly lied to everypony here with her heavy sigh as a clear indication. She then chuckled, giving a knowing look at the pony across from her. "I kinda know what you mean, I think."

"Say, um," Dusk's cheeks were red now, looking off to the side. "When you were in the human world, did you happen to meet somepony with a guita-"

"Yup!" Twilight exclaimed loudly, a big grin on her face before breaking off into giggles and gaining her own blush. "Have you worked up the courage to talk to hi- I mean her?"

"N- no, not yet…" They both blushed a deeper red and giggled together.

"A- and who might this pony be?" Celestia asked through clenched teeth, with Solaris sporting a similar sour look.

Luna rolled her eyes again, meeting Artemis's eyes as he turned his head. Clearly she would need to talk about Flash Sentry and his female counterpart now.

"A pony that has endured far too much crap, Solaris," Artemis said walking over to the alicorns, with Luna walking very closely beside him as she missed being next to him.

She nearly tumbled over her hooves, as the realization of what that little conversation meant for Artemis and herself started to sink in her head!

"Yes, sister," Luna beamed a smile at the group, but hoped Artemis knew it was meant for _him_. "The poor-"

"OH COME ON!"

"BOO!"

All six of their heads snapped to the side and stared at a distant spot on the wall as they heard two very distinctive voices.

There was a long period of silence before the area spoke again.

"You think they know we're here Discy?"

"Maybe Airy, I don't know."

That was when Luna lost it.

Artemis was screaming with her in pure rage, destroying the false wall in their dream realm and revealing two very scared draconequui.

"WHAT ARE THOU DOING HERE ERISDISCORD!‽" both of them shouted, their coats turning ebony black.

"Um…" Discord tapped his claws together, shooting a panicked look at Eris.

"Uh…" Eris gulped, swishing nervously in the air, returning the panicked look to Discord.

"Oh screw this! CHEESE IT!" Both of them turned around and flew off to the distant part of the dream realm.

"THOU WILL RETURN HERE POST HASTE YOU MISERABLE LOT!" The double Royal Canterlot Shout was truly something to behold; deafening to anypony that was not an alicorn or in a dream realm. For those that were alicorns or in a dream realm, they would have ringing ears for a while. Both of the lunar alicorns flew after the two draconequui who turned around with a panicked smile.

"We'regoingtopopoutforawhileleteveryponycalmdownokay?" Discord sputtered out, ducking a shot of moon magic from one of the two enraged alicorns.

"CaptialideaDiscord!" Eris gave a weak smirk as she ducked a thrown greatsword that almost certainly came from Luna's magical hold. "TellButtersnottoworryandIlovehim!" Eris floated closer to Discord as a very large battle axe and mace came straight at her head.

"SametoFluttersplease!" Discord was now back to back with Eris. Both of the draconequui smiled and snapped their fingers, waking everypony up and opening a Door to the Realms In Between while making sure to leave a small wedge for them to get back in later.

* * *

Luna screamed herself awake, pushing off of the bed in pure anger, still reeling from the outrage at the discovery of the dream realm being invaded by those two.

Her horn, still lit up from their fight, threw what remained of the furniture around the room. She faintly heard Solaris and Dusk Shine yelp as the bed went flying outside the room, her eyes still glowing as she looked for more things to smash.

Discord and Eris were both in her mind, watching her like it was some sort of game! Watching her and Artemis!

The nerve of those bucking bastards! Did they not learn anything about friendship from the Element of Kindness. Did they not care about her, or Artemis's, feelings‽

Why must everything be a joke on her behalf?

Why must it always just be a game played on her. Why would no one really care about _her_ feelings, about _her_ life, about _her_ struggles! Nopony would take her seriously, everything HAD to be a joke! _SHE_ was a joke, the biggest one in all of Equestria! Return from the Moon and regain her spot beside her sister? No! She was just treated as a completely and utter empty-minded filly that needed her hoof held if she so much as wanted to cross the bucking hallway! She was a joke as a Princess. No, she wasn't a Princess! She was the _other_ princess, one that ponies barely even cared to think about unless they figured they could use her to get to Tia! As if she wasn't able to see what they were trying to do!

She hated her sister, for always being so bucking big and important that no pony beside her could _ever_ stand out! She hated Cadance for being a stupid bucking young princess that everypony just bucking _loved_ , who had a bucking pony that bucking loved her. She hated Twilight bucking buck bucking buck Sparkle for just becoming a bucking alicorn and having every bucking pony in all of bucking Equestria fall in bucking love with her and show all of their bucking respect for her!

The one time she bucking found somepony that only showed _her_ love and respect, and it was turned into another bucking joke! Two of the bucking three times she met him was another horrible joke on her part; seeing her sister openly betraying her trust and then finding out those draconequui had not only broken into her most private of areas, but were _watching_ them for their own sick bucking amusement?

…

Maybe _that_ was her purpose in life, to always be the joke.

Th- that made sense, as that's what fate continuously pushed in her face. Maybe she didn't deserve love, why would a joke like _her_ deserve anything?

It made _sense_ …

She found herself buried in a warm coat, a hoof rubbing her back as she sobbed _everything_ out.

She didn't know how long she stayed like that, but when she was finally able to stop her crying, she blinked with puffy eyelids, seeing a mournful Solaris return her gaze and then burying her face into him again with more tears flowing down her face.

Sometime later she was able to pull herself off of him, sitting numbly on the floor like the fool she was, ears pointed downwards and her tail wrapped around herself. She blinked and spotted a folded up piece of paper with her name on it.

Picking it up, she saw it was from somepony that had wonderful penmanship, but it was somewhat hastily written and with many strike outs.

_Dear Luna,_

~~_And Sunbutt and Dusky too I guess_ ~~

_Let me say I am_ really _sorry for what just happened, this was_ not _our plan to make you think this was some sort of game, and I promise, Berry promise that ~~with all that cross my heart crap~~ Discord and I will explain everything once we get back. We're just going to pop into another realm ~~until shit calms down~~ for a short while until we are all able to talk like reasonable adults._

_~~Joooooooooy. Oh crap! Why did I write that! I really do want to do this like Butters would want and make him proud!~~ _

_Your mistress of Chaos ~~and marefriend to the cutest pony ever!~~_

_Eris_

_P.S.: Tell Butters I am really sorry for all this, and I Berry promise him; cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye, that I will make this right for everypony._

_Please forgive me Butterscotch_

_Eris_

Luna folded inwards, sighing in sadness. It seemed that even the draconequui, despite their great and terrible misdeeds to the ponies in the past, were allowed to have some happiness.

Unlike her…

_Oh buck my life._

Luna froze where she sat. She was barely aware that Solaris had taken the note now and was reading it. But there was a more pressing matter right now than him invading her privacy and reading her letter.

Although she had thought that, it was not her own voice echoing that thought.


	20. Chapter Thirteen - Artemis

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-10-28 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen - Artemis**

Artemis froze, his heart beating in his chest. He knew the sounds of ponies talking to him in their dreams, but this…

Brushing Celestia's hoof off his shoulder, he sent a tentative thought out.

Nothing. He felt foolish, felt his ears starting to blush-

{{'Artemis, is that you?'}} Artemis yelped, hearing her voice in his mind.

"Artemis, what is the matter-" Celestia took a hesitant step towards him, but he blocked her out when Luna spoke again.

{{'Glorious night, I can hear you in my head!'}} Luna seemed to _squeal_ inside his head. After that there was a painful silence as something important came to mind.

{{'Why can I hear you?'}}

"Artemis!" Celestia shook him, snapping his focus to his surrounding area. All of the guards, along with the two Princesses and the Elements of Harmony, were eying him tensely as he had his horn near her throat. Considering he was the reason for her black eye that she was no longer hiding with her magic, he could understand why they seemed unhappy with him being this close. "What's the matter? What's going on, you wouldn't respond to anything and we were deeply concerned for you."

"Celestia," Artemis answered while shaking off her hooves. "Everypony, I am fine. It is just that…" He paused, trying to think of a way to say this without sounding like a madpony. All of a sudden, he felt a twinge within his head, as if somepony was trying to read it.

"What is it?" Celestia frowned, leaning towards him again. "Are you-"

"I am _fine_ ," he muttered, sending a mental prod back at the pony trying to access his mind and hearing a faint yelp within the recesses of his mind in response. "Just that the pony I was hearing in my mind decided to poke at my mind without permission."

{{'Ponyfeathers, that was painful!'}}

{{'Nor I! At least _I_ was gentle, you twit.'}} The voice was in a snarky tone now, which he gave a mature response to before focusing on the group again.

"As I was saying, I had heard somepony within my mind. I have every reason to believe it is Luna."

"Really?" Twilight asked, stepping closer to him, eyes wide with wonder. "How is that even possible? I mean, I understand the possibility and necessities of mental speaking but-" She gasped, with eyes widening even more so than before. "There must be some way test this-"

"Twilight," Celestia placed a wing between her and the stallion, which caused the young alicorn to blush. "While I am sure that you and Prince Artemis could figure this conundrum out with ease, I do believe that it would be prudent to tackle this issue _tomorrow_. It is late, Luna's room is even more of a mess than usual," Artemis gave her a glare; he had seen Luna's room before and it was very organized. Celestia then turned to face him, with a faint smile on her face. He recognized it as the same smile that Solaris had had before he was tricked into seeing the physician again last year. "And our dear guest here does need to rest his head."

"Celestia, I told you before, I am _fi_ -"

"Artemis, do you not remember what you promised before, how and to whom?" She gave him a slightly bigger smile, which told him he had fallen for her trap. Thankfully too, as the notion of the punishment of breaking a Berry Promise was terrifying enough in his own world and he was sure that Pinkie Pie would be just as terrifying for those that broke one of her promises.

Doing his best not to squeak, he coughed into his hoof before looking at the pink mare who returned the eye connection. The look alone was far more powerful than the Element of Kindness's Stare and it was all he needed to give in. "Yes, I do and now, I suppose, finding another bed is fairly important due to this one giving out." He gave a look at the bed that broke because of its shoddy crafters and not him having a foalish temper tantrum.

Celestia gave a little chuckle, shaking her head. "Follow me, Prince Artemis, I do believe that we have a spare guest room set up after Twilight and her friends gave us a surprise visit today." Gesturing with a wing, she let the guards direct Artemis and the girls out of the room and towards the guest rooms ahead of her. She almost closed the doors when Pinkie Pie raced backwards.

"Sorry princess, just that Artemis forgot his shoes and weird necklace thing, and I figured he'd like to have it with him in the morning!"

Smiling at the thoughtfulness of the mare, she nodded her head, walking ahead after telling Pinkie Pie to close the doors once she was done.

Pinkie hopped into the room, humming a tune as she started to pick through the wreckage of the room with a possum carrying an abacus running past for some unknown reason. Lifting some of the broken bed around, she picked out the left shoe that Rarity had made for Artemis when her body started to convulse with the worst onset of her Pinkie Sense ever.

It began with painful hind leg twitches, then her tail curled around itself painfully tight, followed by a massive headache that was barely short of causing any form of lasting damage to the mare and ended by something seemingly grabbing her heart tight enough to cause tears to flow out of her eyes. Pinkie Pie paused for a moment, her mind beginning to decipher the warings her senses were telling her and then she trembled out of fear as they were perfectly clear for once.

She had to go tell the Princess, tell Twilight, tell _everypon-_

_No, you will not warn Sunbutt, my little pony._

She stopped, eyes glossing over as the memory of her Pinkie Sense was taken from her. Blinking her eyes as she lifted another shoe to her pile, she felt if there was something she had just forgotten, but if it was important she would remember it later. Shrugging her shoulders, she found the last of Artemis's clothes and turned to leave.


	21. Chapter Thirteen - Luna

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2014-10-28 (FIMFiction Dot Net), 2017-10-17 (SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen - Luna**

Luna paused at what she heard in her head, causing Solaris and Dusk to stare at her with concern. At least, Solaris was; Dusk Shine was instead examining the note. The voice in her head _sounded_ like Artemis, but that was imposi-

{{'Luna?'}}

The voice caused her to squeak in surprise, which in turned made Solaris jump in surprise and trot over to her.

It _was_ him! She quickly answered back, unable to keep her eagerness out of it.

"Luna, what's going on-" she felt Solaris's hoof on her shoulder when she heard the reply.

{{'Yes, it _is_ me!'}}

Grinning broadly, Luna smiled and wiped her tears away as Artemis spoke back with the same tones of joy as she had just done.

{{'Indeed Luna! I can hear you as well!'}} Artemis's voice chirped back and then there a dreadful moment of stillness as a pressing question came to the front.

{{'Why can I hear you?'}}

"Luna!" Solaris's shout broke her focus, making her aware of the concerned looks from everypony around her. Barricade was eying the stallion who had a wing around her again, but she had to admit it was comforting and a rather surprising method of focusing her thoughts again. "Please, tell us what the matter is. You went silent and we worried for you Luna dear."

"Solaris," Luna replied softly, a smile on her face as she stepped out of the wing and towards the large earth pony mare. She'd long since recognized her as Ironhide's counterpart, and once this whole ordeal was settled with, she was going to see if he was as good at dealing with Celestia as Steel Barricade was when it came to dealing with Solaris. "Captain Barricade, you need not worry." She gave a small smile towards the group, trying to prod her own mind to see if what was causing the voice in her head was truly Artemis. "I do believe that our meeting with my dream realm has provided some-Gah!"

"Luna, are you alright?" Barricade gave her a worried look, with her armed hooves on her shoulders and her body lying almost on top of her as if to protect her from a physical attack.

"Yes, yes I am." She brushed off the hooves from the large mare, sending an apology towards the pony that had poked her mind.

{{'Well, _excuse_ me but I do not care for uninvited guests poking at my mind!'}}

All that Luna heard from the ungrateful colt was a loud huff before she turned her attention back towards the group.

"Again, I was saying that I believe that due to our interaction with the dream realm, I can hear Artemis within my mind now."

"Really?" Dusk gave her a thoughtful look, tapping his chin as he tilted his head to the side like Twilight would do in deep concentration. "Mental communication is not unheard of, but I was under the impression only those who'd studied it for decades could attempt it, and it would take even _more_ time before a mental connection between two ponies could be attempted."

"Sir Dusk, need I remind you that my appearance is not indicative of my age?" She gave a tiny smile, causing the alicorn to blush. "I had many years to practice this form of magic, and I was one of four mares that developed the practice of speaking within one's mind to another." She gave Solaris a sad smile, remembering days long ago. "Sadly, this was last used before my banishment. I would be surprised that you know of such magic, but then again, Twilight has a wide breadth of knowledge once it comes to magic that I can believe she would learn it even if she cannot use it yet."

Solaris gave a throaty chuckle, shaking his head with amusement. "There was a period of time when dear Dusk Shine, after devouring the language portion of the library, would respond only in Morse code."

The pony in question blushed, with his friends chuckling at this tidbit of knowledge of their friend's foalhood. Steel Barricade, surprisingly, had a tingle of amusement in her eyes. "Gleaming told me of how annoying it was, and only after threatening to show everypony here a certain 'action figure' did he finally stop."

Dusk Shine groaned, burying his head in his wings as his friends laughed harder now.

"As I recall, Baron Von Genius Jeans was _quite_ adorable, my prince," the earth pony finished her assault while keeping a professional neutral tone, causing Solaris to snicker loudly.

"She showed you Genius Jeans?" He gasped, and moaned, "Oh Faust, kill me now."

"There there, my little pony," Luna smiled, patting the pony on the back. "They are only teasing because they care and your friends laugh because it is precious moments in your life that _are_ amusing." She then leaned down to his ear, whispering loudly. "I am sure that they have similar events in their younger days and that they would not mind sharing after hearing your own." She then cast an eye at the group of stallions, gulping at the prospect at now being forced to tell stories of when they acted like foals. And they would tell, as it would be unfair for their friend to suffer alone.

"I am sure you and your friends can share stories later as I do believe we need find another bed for our guest." Solaris smiled broadly, urging them forwards with a wing, looking around the room with a bit of a frown. "We can figure this matter out tomorrow as well as finally have this room cleaned up."

Luna rolled her eyes, frowning at the false statement. Despite the mess from when she woke up, it was a fairly well put together room with a well thought out system of notes in smart piles. Just because somepony couldn't handle the fact that a desk wasn't big enough for all the paperwork did _not_ mean it was a messy room! Following the guards out with the stallions beginning to share their stories, one involving a young Blitz and his mother's makeup from the mouth of Butterscotch, the pink stallion reared backwards suddenly.

"Just remembered you forgot your stuff in the room princess!" He beamed at the group, bouncing back into the room. "I'll catch up with you guys, don't start without me!"

With a sigh of relief from the blue pegasus, the small group left the stallion alone in the room. Eyes almost fully closed in a simple relaxed frame of mind, he started to lift thing around, watching Artemis's pet possum run out with the alicorn of the night's abacus with a chuckle.

As he lifted the Princess's shoes into the crux of his foreleg, his eyes snapped wide open as he bowled over by a terrible wave of his own Berry Sense.

It started with painful hind leg spasms, then his tail constricted around itself painfully tight, followed by an attack within his own head that was just barely short of causing any form of lasting damage to the the stallion to be finally followed by something seemingly grabbing his heart hard enough to cause tears to flow from his eyes. Bubble Berry paused for a moment, his mind starting to decipher the warnings his senses were telling him and then he almost fell to the floor out of fear as the warnings were perfectly clear for once.

He had to go tell the Prince, tell Dusk, tell _everypon-_

_No, you will not warn Sunbutt, my little pony._

He paused mid step, his eyes growing dull as the memories were stolen from him. Shaking his head, and briefly wondering why he had dropped Princess Luna's stuff, he began to pick them up when a stray thought entered his head that something was off. Tilting his head to the side, he tried to recall anything he had just forgotten. But as you cannot recall what you don't know, he simply shrugged his shoulders as he bounced out of the room, closing the doors behind him.


	22. Chapter Fourteen - Artemis

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2017-11-22 (FIMFiction Dot Net, SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen - Artemis**

With a simple, controlled and hidden yawn, Celestia looked around the table and smiled at the assembled group. Twilight and her friends were all chatting blissfully away, although a few were clearly not morning mares. Rarity seemed to be in the midst of either waking up or hiding her displeasure at being unable to do her beauty ritual and Rainbow Dash was steadily drinking from her mug, trying to be perky for her friends. Lifting a pancake that Spike had made to her mouth, she had turned her attention to the lone stallion at the table, sitting on her other side and by himself. Artemis was somewhat better; he seemed to be more well rested, but he almost certainly had a nocturnal lifestyle and thus being up at this time must be playing havoc with his inner clock.

_Again_ , she corrected herself. Pausing, she realized that Luna must have stayed awake for nearly two days straight if things had remained the same in both their worlds. She looked at the stallion again, closely now. Artemis was nursing one of their special coffee blends weakly as he nibbled at the food when he thought she wasn't looking, otherwise he was forcing the food down his mouth. Of course he was still completely exhausted, he was just trying not to worry her, just like Luna would do in the same place for her.

Biting back a sigh, she was about to ask him how he'd _really_ slept last night when her former student spoke up.

"So Prince Artemis, how did you sleep?" Blinking, Celestia turned her head to see Twilight move her plate to the other side and seat herself a few seats from the pony in question.

"Fairly decent, all things considered," he answered, raising an eyebrow at Celestia, and then at Twilight.

He didn't think _she_ had something to do with this, did he? Why would anypony think she had manip- oh…

"Yeah, last night was pretty crazy, Arty." Rainbow Dash smirked, flying over to his left side and sitting down to eat her breakfast. She reached over to pat him on the back, to which Celestia caught the flinch from the stallion when contact was made. "Don't worry, once Discord gets back, I'll make him talk to find out why the hay he did this to you and Luna."

"Um, Dash, I would like to talk to him first," Fluttershy spoke in her soft voice, but there was some steel in there for some reason… **oh!** It seemed Celestia owed her niece a hundred bits now _and_ she had to do a certain dance. "I mean, if that is okay." She hid behind her mane, looking down at her plate. Celestia paused as the pegasus had somehow moved over to the other side without her noticing. She had assumed that Pinki-

She was surprised to be surprised to find Pinkie Pie already over there, eating a tooth aching amount of sweets for her breakfast along with the pancakes that Spike had made them. She still had to learn not to be surprised when the pink mare did something unusual. According to the guards last night, she had turned into a dead end hallway only to both disappear and exit from Artemis's wardrobe at the exact same time. Of course, she'd then managed to make it even worse by simply leaving the room and walking the normal way to the bedroom for the mares. A few of the guards had asked her to warn them when she was coming as they found her worse than Discord; according to them he was constantly random which was somewhat accustomable while she chose randomness which was unaccustomable.

"Of course darling, we wouldn't dream of letting anypony getting first shots beside _you_ ," Rarity smiled, rubbing the pegasus's back. "After all, a marefriend _always_ has the right to yell at her coltfriend first, right Prince Artemis?" She gave Artemis a knowing wink, with the mares in the room smiling at the slight joke at the stallion's expense.

"I would not know, as I have not had a marefriend before nor am I Prince Bolero," he frowned, seemingly confused for some reason. "I would guess it is as you say." He shrugged his shoulders, missing the look of concern the alicorn of the sun gave to Rarity, the most knowledgeable pony in the room regarding relationships.

"Well sugarcube, a bit of warnin' Ah can give ya is that Luna will always be right, no matter what ya say or what the case will be." Applejack grinned, elbowing the stallion in the side as she sat down next to him.

"Wait, wha-" Artemis's eyes seemed to bulge out a bit, his face becoming red as he began to understand the implications being mentioned. "We hath only just met with thy Princess, We were not, nay We meant-"

"I get it!" Pinkie Pie smiled, looking up from her plate at the hyperventilating pony. "Everypony thinks the two of them are already in a relationship when Arty sees things as a friendship now but not like the one we have girls but a bit more deep due to them having the same past and the two them understanding each other and the fact being around mares seems to really bother-"

" _Enough_ , Miss Pie!" Artemis roared out in his seat, struggling to keep his voice low and steady as he tried and failed to get his blush under control. "We… _I_ … buck it all; this is bucking confusing as all Tartarus, _we_ , Luna and I, are still trying to understand everything that has happened, and as such, I am hesitant to label anything as of yet." He grumbled, settling back down in his seat before glaring at Celestia. "I do _care_ for her, you need not jump down my throa-"

"No, no Artemis," Celestia smiled softly, trying to defuse the situation. "I suppose I was imagining situations for my sister that were not there yet." Letting out a small giggle and contented sigh, she looked out the window. "When I first heard Luna speak of you, I believed she had found somepony that would help her truly connect with the modern world as well as be somepony for her to love and who loves her back. I forgot it takes time for most ponies to really reach a point where they will call themselves a couple, and I suppose you two are no exception. I do apologize for putting that excess stress on you, Artemis." She turned to look him in the eyes; telling him that she had not forgotten their little discussion before in Luna's bedroom. That must be weighing heavily on him as well.

Artemis only looked at her for moment before nodding his head. "'Tis fine Celestia." He sighed, and then snickered a bit. "I'm _far_ from the most knowledgeable pony about matters of the heart. My expertise is on the art of warfare and the war of controlling muses, my moon and my stars and…" Artemis blinked, tapping his chin in thought. "There is not much _more_ , to be honest."

"Well," Rarity said as she fluttered her eyelashes. "I can certainly be of help, if you wish. I _do_ have a wide range of books on the topic and a number of connections who are familiar with the subject… and I shouldn't even have to say this, but my number one piece of advice?" She leaned in a bit. "Do _not_ take any recommendations from Blueblood on the matter."

"I may be inept but I am no fool," Artemis replied. "From what little I have seen of him, I know to take any advice he may give on _anything_ with a _very_ large grain of salt."

Rarity sat back, a satisfied look on her face. "Now, Fancy Pants, on the other hoof, is quite the charmer - he and Fleur are an absolutely darling couple, and they are certainly worthy of respect, having earned it through their actions and behavior rather than demanding it by right of their positions in the nobility."

"Ah, so that is what they are called here," Artemis said, nodding his head. "If they are like Royal Splendor and Flavien de Los from my world, I know exactly what you mean. Still I would be a fool to reject your offer and I do think I will be spending my time here in your Ponyville." He began to lift his coffee mug to his lips before pausing, deciding it would be proper to inform Luna of his decision, if he thought it would be the same one.

{{Artemis?}} Luna spoke to him in his head before he could do so.

{{I have made a decision to where I should be while I am in your realm.}}

{{Good; we can be ready for the return of Eris and Discord here in Canterlot.}}

{{What?}} She sounded incredulous now. {{Then where do you plan to be?}}

{{I see.}} Luna did not sound completely confident at this point but she put a strong front on.

{{And why is that?}}

Tilting his head around, Artemis saw the looks he was getting, and after a moment, raised a hoof. "It's all right, everypony. I was just talking with Luna."

"Is she all right?" Celestia asked, sounding worried.

"She's absolutely fine," Artemis replied. "Though it appears our plans have diverged somewhat, since I intend to go to Ponyville and she plans to stay in Canterlot and wait until Eris and Discord return."

"How curious," Celestia mused to herself. "But I think that this decision holds a great deal of possibility for Luna; if you can send her my best wishes, I would greatly appreciate that."

"I shall once I have freshened up," he said as he stood up from the table and walked out of the dining room.


	23. Chapter Fourteen - Luna

**Author's note:** Chapter post dates - 2017-11-22 (FIMFiction Dot Net, SpaceBattles Forum), 2020-04-30 (Archive Of Our Own).

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen - Luna**

Luna was smiling to herself as she began to dine on the magnificent meal the young dragoness had prepared for them. Solaris watched her out of the corner of his eyes, making sure she was well taken care of and that the matters at hoof were under control.

Which, for an early morning breakfast, was simple enough despite the slight bickering between friends. Blitz and Elusive were arguing about proper grooming methods, with the former stating that just dunking his head into a bowl of water was enough while the unicorn was aghast and clearly arguing that one needed to take a proper shower in the presence of royalty at the very least, if not make sure that one's mane was _properly_ brushed.

The rest of the stallions seemed to be annoyed by this early argument, with Applejack looking to be the most annoyed.

"Good grief you two," the farmer shouted, placing his hooves onto the table. "Y'all need some third pony to stop this stupid nonsense."

"Princess Luna," Elusive turned to face her. "Can you please settle this debate for us?"

"Yeah, I mean if you're like Arty, you'd know that you _don't_ want to waste all your time doing fru fru stuff to look good," Rainbow Blitz chimed in, grinning confidently.

Luna simply gave him an arched eyebrow which caused the pegasus to fold back slightly. "Need I remind you that I am a mare, and while I may not go to the extent that _Bluebelle_ does, I _do_ make an effort to at least look _respectable_ to others."

Elusive looked very smug at that, with the pegasus grumbling as the unicorn started to elbow him. "Yeah yeah," the stunt pony said, rolling his eyes. "I remember the bet; I'll join you for that spa day thing."

"If that is all settled, my little ponies," Solaris said as he lifted a cut up piece of pancake to his mouth. "I think we should continue our plans for today."

"Agreed," Luna said as she finished her meal, placing the fork down. "While we could try and discover a way to return us to where Artemis and I belong, I do think it would be a good idea to wait for our draconequui to return as they are more than likely the cause of this."

With that thought on her mind, Luna realized it would be proper to inform Artemis of her decision, if she thought it would be the same one.

{{Yes, Luna?}}

{{As I have,}} he replied.

{{That's… not _my_ plan Luna.}}

{{In Ponyville,}} he replied. {{I need some particular advice, and I feel Ponyville is the best place to be in order to get it.}}

{{I think we should stop for the moment,}} Artemis chimed into her head with a hint of a smirk on his voice.

{{Because I am getting looks from everypony and I suspect you are as well.}}

Luna tilted her head upwards to see that indeed everypony was giving her a worried look.

"Luna," Solaris began slowly. "Is everything okay? You spaced out for some time."

"Yes, it is; Artemis and I were merely conversing with our new link," Luna shook herself alert and saw the stallions around her begin to relax. "Curiously, he is going to Ponyville while I plan to stay _here_."

"That _is_ curious," Solaris said, stroking his beard. "But I think that this has a lot of promise for Artemis; if you can send him my best wishes, I would appreciate that."

"I shall," Luna said as she rose from the table. "After I freshen up with a _proper_ shower," she directed her words at the groaning pegasus who still had a date with what had to be the male version of the spa ponies.


End file.
